Unconventional Truths
by Rosajean
Summary: Ambassador Prentiss has a secret that is about to drastically change Emily's life. H/P eventually. FINALLY COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**This will be a multi-chapter fic, though at this point I have no idea how many 'multi' really means. Disclaimer's the same as always. Reviews are love. **

"Ugh! Great." Emily Prentiss grumbled to herself as she glanced at the caller ID on her ringing cellphone. Not that she really needed to glance at the ID – she had long ago picked Beethoven's 5th as the ringtone to alert her when her mother was calling. There was something so perfectly dramatic about the tone that even though she was dreading the call, the ringing never failed to add a little bit of levity to her mood before she picked up.

"Emily Prentiss speaking." She answered the call in that perfectly polite voice she'd had perfected since the age of 6.

"Please hold for Ambassador Prentiss." She recognized the voice of her mother's personal assistant, Adam, having spoken to him more often than she actually had with her own mother.

For once she didn't have to wait long for her mother to pick up. "Emily. Are you in town?"

"Uh, yea, we actually just got back from a case. Why?"

"We need to talk. I have a dinner to attend tonight but I'll stop by your apartment afterwards, around 9." She hung up, not giving Emily a chance to respond or question why all of a sudden she was back in the country and insisting they talk.

It was barely 4pm and she had at least another two hours' worth of paperwork to complete before she could go home and call it a day. She went back to filling a glass of water for herself in the breakroom that she had been in the middle of before she got her mother's cryptic phone call.

Puzzling over what could possibly be so important that her mother had insisted on seeing her that night, she wasn't watching where she was going until she walked straight into Hotch. She stumbled back from the contact and immediately felt his hands on her shoulders, steadying her. When she realized she'd spilt the glass of water all down the front of his shirt, she started apologizing profusely and tried wiping the water off with her hand, before realizing just what she was doing and blushed profusely. She jerked her hand away, only to hear him chuckling at her behavior.

"So sorry, Hotch! I just wasn't really watching where I was going."

"Hey, at least it's not hot coffee, right?"

Her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red, but she chuckled at his joke anyways.

"So what's got you so distracted?"

"Just a call from the Ambassador." He noticed her frown at this statement and when she didn't elaborate, he quirked an eyebrow to let her know he was listening. "She wants to talk to me about something, but she was being kind of cryptic. It's not really her style. Usually she just calls me up – or rather has her assistant call me up – and demands I go to yet another one of her fundraising functions. But she's coming over tonight to talk."

"You can leave early if you need to. There's nothing pressing can't wait 'til tomorrow."

She shook her head before he was halfway through the statement. "No it's fine. She's not coming over 'til later. Sorry about the water, Hotch." She replied and left for her desk, swiftly compartmentalizing the conversation with her mother until she could think about it later after work.

It was half past six by the time she finally left the office and headed for home, picking up Chinese take-out on the way. She spent the next few hours trying not to dwell on the impending conversation with her mother and cleaning her already clean apartment, not wanting to give her mother the slightest opportunity to criticize. When the doorbell rung at 8:55pm, she pulled the whistling tea kettle off the stove and opened the door to invite her mother in. She quickly prepared two cups of tea and joined her mother in the living room.

"So, Emily, how've you been? How's your work with the BAU going?"

"I'm fine and it's going well, mom. But you didn't come here for small talk, and I know you've got a tight schedule, so why don't you just tell me what this is all about?"

Emily watched as her mother visibly tensed and an awkward silence settled over the room as Elizabeth internally debated how to say what she needed to say.

"Well, Emily… there's something that I need to tell you. Something about my past that I've never shared with you, never really shared with anyone before. But you need to know…" Emily watched, completely perplexed by the way the woman in front of her who had turned public speaking into an art form had all of a sudden become hesitant, wringing her hands in uncertainty of what to say or how to say it.

"Mom, it's just me. You can tell me whatever."

Elizabeth briefly met her daughter's eyes before looking away again, choosing to focus on the intricate woodwork of the coffee table instead. She drew a deep breath and expelled it before beginning a story that she had once thought she'd take to the grave with her.

"I've told you before about the time I studied abroad in Russia when I was 19. But what I didn't tell you is that I ended up coming home 4 months earlier than I had originally planned. I was…when I was over there, I met a guy. And he seemed like a really nice guy, but it turns out he wasn't. And one night we were hanging out together and he attacked me." The last few words came out in a whisper and Emily wasn't entirely sure she'd heard what she thought she'd heard.

"He attacked you?" Elizabeth nodded, still refusing to meet her daughter's eyes.

"When I got home, back to New York, I found out I was pregnant."

"Pregnant?" Emily couldn't believe what she was hearing. Disbelief and shock didn't even cover the emotions rolling over her at that moment. Her mother had been attacked in a foreign country? She had been pregnant at 19? She covered one of her mother's hands in her own, not really sure what to say or how to offer comfort for something that had happened 4 years before she was even born.

"What did you do?" she whispered, not entirely sure she wanted to know the rest of the story. Had her mother done what she had done at the young age of 15?

"Well, your grandparents, you know they were very devout Catholics. I had the baby – a girl –but we didn't tell anyone. And I gave her up for adoption."

"WHAT? You have… I have… I mean…I have a sister? There's another woman out there who is your daughter?"

"_Was._ Who _was_ my daughter."

"Adopted or not, she's still biologically your daughter."

"That's not what I meant. '_Was'_ as in, she died. She passed away a few days ago in a car crash. Her and her husband both."

"What?" This was too much. Even Emily Prentiss, the queen at compartmentalizing and detaching, didn't know how to deal with all the information that had just been laid at her feet. She didn't know whether to run or to stay and demand to be told absolutely everything. But her mother's next words left her completely floored, unable to move.

"There's more. She had a daughter."


	2. Chapter 2

"A daughter?" Emily repeated back, trying to comprehend the fact that she had gained and lost a sister in a matter of minutes and then gained a niece – though she wasn't really sure if she could even call the girl her niece considering the situation.

Through the confusion and chaos that had suddenly become her life, only one question stood out clearly in her mind and she had a feeling it had an important answer, considering that Elizabeth Prentiss was the type who guarded her privacy like it was a priceless gemstone, even from her daughter. "Why now? Why are you telling me all of this now?"

Her mother, never one to mince words, replied bluntly, "There's a custody hearing."

Comprehending everything in that one phrase, Emily started shaking her head rather emphatically. "No. No. Absolutely not. That girl needs to stay with the family that she already knows. You gave up the rights to interfere in her life when you gave your daughter up for adoption." She knew that she was sounding harsher than she meant to, and really she understood that maybe her mother felt the need to make some sort of amends or assuage old regrets and guilt she still had about giving up her daughter at 19, but she couldn't let her mother upturn a little girl's life for the sake of her own guilty conscience.

"I'm not trying to ruin her life, Emily. The girl doesn't have any family left. The only one she's got is a godfather and the social worker isn't entirely sure if he's the best option for the girl because he travels a lot, so the judge has ordered a custody hearing. I had an open adoption, so I've been kept in the loop, so to speak, and the social worker has requested my presence at the hearing."

"And you're going?"

"Actually, I want you to come with me. You know with my position as an ambassador I can't really look after a child… but you could."

"Me? Is this a joke? I've never even met the girl. I don't even know her name! And I'm guessing I travel as much as the godfather, if not more. What about a godmother? Or her grandparents?"

"Her name's Amanda Davis, but she goes by Mandy and she's six. Her mother's name was Jenna and her father was Steven. The grandparents passed away several years ago, and from what I've been able to find out – which is to say, not much – the godmother and godfather were married, but she died a little over a year ago. She literally doesn't have anyone left, Emily. And I'm not going to turn my back on her!"

She could tell that her mother was getting worked up, but her whole world had been flipped upside down and she was still trying to find her footing and keep her balance. How did she go from being an only child with no current prospects of having a child of her own to suddenly being a sister who was _maybe, possibly_ considering the idea of adopting her long lost sister's little girl? This was just too much all at once. She had a thousand questions she wanted answers to, but they could all be saved for later.

"I need time to think about this, mom. I'm not saying no, but I'm not saying yes either. When's the hearing?"

"It's in two days. On Wednesday at 9 am."

"And where's the girl now?"

"Apparently the godfather has been traveling, so they put her in a foster home until custody is decided." Emily shuddered at the thought of the little girl she'd never met being placed in a foster home. Her job had made her all too acquainted with the grim realities that usually accompany foster homes. She definitely didn't like the idea of her being there, but she still wasn't sure she could take on the responsibility of a child with the job that she has.

Elizabeth stood to leave and Emily followed her to the door. "I'll call you tomorrow night and let you know if I'm coming with you on Wednesday or not."

Her mother nodded and moved to open the door, before turning back to look at her daughter's face. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, Emily. I wanted to but I didn't know how." She was gone before Emily could come up with any sort of reply to that statement. Moving back to her living room, Emily gathered the two cups of tea that had been left thoroughly untouched and swiftly dumped them in the kitchen sink.

She spent the next 4 hours pacing around her apartment, silently turning everything over in her mind that she had learned that night. When she finally collapsed into bed after 2 am, she still hadn't made a decision, and spent most of the night tossing and turning, drifting in and out of a fitful sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**My thanks to everyone that's been reading, reviewing, and alerting on this story so far.**

**Until I win the lottery and buy the rights to CM, the disclaimer's the same as always. **

The next morning, Rossi walked into Hotch's office, not bothering to knock. He had come to talk about Emily Prentiss, but upon seeing his best friend's demeanor, he was a little sidetracked.

"Is there something going around?"

Rather confused by the vague question, and not in the mood for guessing games, Hotch glanced up at the older profiler, fixing him with a stern glare – which of course had no effect whatsoever on Rossi. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you look like you've been dragged through the ringer and it's barely after 10. And Emily's looking just about the same."

That instantly piqued Hotch's curiosity, just as Rossi knew it would. "What's wrong with Prentiss? Has something happened? Has she said something?"

"She hasn't said anything to me. I thought maybe she's said something to you. She looks like she didn't sleep more than an hour last night and she's been distracted all morning."

"Oh. Well, no, she hasn't said anything to me."

"You should talk to her, make sure she's okay." When Hotch didn't reply, he continued with his previous questioning. "So what's going on with you this morning?"

"Nothing." At Rossi's snort of disbelief, he relented. "I got some unexpected news last night. Not exactly of the happy variety. Speaking of which, I'll be out of the office this afternoon. I have to be somewhere and take care of a few things. So can you hold down the forte here?"

"Sure, no problem. Care to share what this unexpected news was about?"

"No."

Rossi rolled his eyes and decided to leave it alone for the time being. "I'll send Emily up, okay?" He exited Hotch's office, not waiting for a reply.

When Emily entered his office just a few minutes later, he saw right away what Rossi had been referring to. The normally unflappable profiler looked pale, had dark circles under her eyes, and though she looked professional and put together, to someone that really knew her she looked just plain old lost. He didn't realize he was staring until her voice broke through his contemplations on what could possibly have shaken her up so badly. "Hotch? Rossi said you wanted to see me."

He nodded. "Prentiss. Have a seat." He waited until she had taken a seat in front of his desk before continuing. "We were just wondering – that is to say, I was wondering – if everything's alright? You seem…" He wasn't used to prying into his colleagues' private lives and he wasn't sure how to phrase it without putting her on the defensive. "Upset," is what he finally decided on. "You seem upset." When she didn't answer him, instead choosing to focus on her hands resting in her lap, he tried a different tactic. "Does this have something to do with your mother's visit yesterday?" The way she abruptly jerked her head up, meeting his gaze, told him that whatever was bothering her had _everything_ to do with the Ambassador's short-notice drop-in the night before.

"It's nothing. …Well, no, it's something. But I don't want to…I mean, I'm not ready to share it with anyone just yet."

"Okay. You know you can come to me if you need anything, right?" She knew that as her supervisor he would have offered his help anyways, but she could hear in his tone that he was making the offer as a friend, as someone who cares about her.

"Yea, Hotch, I know. And thanks. I just need to work through this on my own for now, I think."

"Okay. Well then I'll see you at our briefing at 11." He was dismissing her, but those words seemed to make her stop short.

"We have another case? Are we leaving?" For some reason, the idea of leaving seemed to bother her more than it usually did, which puzzled him.

"No, we just have some routine consults to go over for the moment. Why? Is leaving a problem?"

She seemed to debate the question for a minute, and when she finally spoke, he got the feeling that she had just come to a very big decision, though she still wasn't giving anything away. "Actually, I need to take a personal day tomorrow. And maybe – depending on how tomorrow goes – I might need a few more days off this week."

"Okay?" He wanted to press the matter, find out why she was being so cryptic and why the woman who works just as much as he does would suddenly need time off. But he knew that if he pushed the matter, she'd just shut down on him. "Well, I have some things to take care of this week as well. I was planning on just staying behind on the next case, but since both of us are going to be gone, I'll request Strauss to put us on stand-down for this week."

That got her attention. And suddenly she was noticing that she wasn't the only one who seemed out of sorts that day. "Hotch? Are you alright? You look…well, kind of, I dunno, 'upset'?"

His lips quirked at her use of the same word choice. "I'm fine, Prentiss. I'll see you in the conference room." It wasn't entirely true, 'fine' didn't really cover the feelings of sadness and conflict that he was feeling at the moment, but like Emily, he preferred to keep his personal and professional lives separate whenever possible.

The next couple hours passed quickly, including the briefing in the conference room, at the end of which he announced that he and Emily both would be taking personal time the following day and that the team was on stand-down for that week. When the meeting was over, JJ and Garcia vehemently insisted on taking Emily out for lunch, hoping that they could talk their friend into telling them what was going on with her that day.


	4. Chapter 4

They had barely sat down at their table when the interrogation started.

"Alright, out with it, Em. What's going on?" JJ demanded, though in a soft tone that begged Emily to not be mad at her for prying.

"Yea, what are you hiding from us, buttercup?" Garcia chimed in.

"Guys –" Emily started, intent on changing the subject as soon as possible.

"Emily, seriously! We're you're best friends and you know you can tell us anything and it'll stay right here between us three." JJ insisted.

Looking across the table at her two best friends, Emily couldn't help but relent. She was desperate to talk to someone about everything she had learned yesterday and how blindsided she felt by the whole thing. "Well, it's kind of a long story, and I don't even know all of the details yet. Hell, I don't think I even know half the details yet."

"Sweet pea, quit stalling and just get on with telling us." Garcia prompted.

Emily sighed and started the story that she still found hard to believe herself. "Well, I guess it starts with when my mom was a sophomore in college and decided to study abroad…." Over the next 10 minutes she explained everything she knew, during which her friends gasped and gaped in all the right places, making her feel at least a little better about being so freaked out by the whole situation.

"So, in short, your mom had a daughter, gave her up, never told anyone, and now wants you to adopt the daughter of the sister you never knew existed or got the chance to meet?" Garcia summarized with an air of incredulity.

"Yep, pretty much."

"Wow. No wonder you didn't sleep a wink night. I'm pretty sure I would have pulled the covers over my head and refused to move from my bed the whole day if I were in your place." Garcia sympathized.

"So you don't think I'm overreacting? I mean, I'm so confused right now that I'm not even sure what to think, you know? I just feel bewildered and betrayed and angry and sad, all at once. I feel like I was cheated out of having a sister. And then there's this little girl out there who just lost both of her parents and now she has no one and she might need my help and I'm not sure if I know how to help her. I mean, I've never been a mother before. I think I want to be a mom, you know, some day. But it was always just an abstract possibility. What if I screw it up? Or screw her up? She's already suffered so much. I don't want to make it worse." Everything she'd been feeling since the night before was suddenly bubbling up to the surface and she couldn't stop the tears from filling her eyes and running down her cheeks. When JJ moved beside her and pulled her into a tight hug, she went willingly, just glad to have such caring friends.

"First things first, honey bear. You will be a great mom," Garcia declared. "No matter whether that's starting tomorrow or starting 5 years from now. And besides, JJ's already got the parenting thing down so she can help you out with that, and I'll be right there to spoil the little girl with dresses and teddy bears and ice cream trips every day."

"Every day, Pen? I'm fairly certain the social worker would take her right back if I let her eat ice cream every single day." Emily laughed, sitting up properly and wiping her face.

"Well, okay, maybe just a weekly trip then." Garcia relented. "Secondly, you're not overreacting. I'm fairly certain there's no such thing as a 'standard operating procedure' for how you're supposed to feel when you find out about the skeletons in the proverbial family closet. Okay?"

"Yea, okay. Thanks Pen."

"So how's your mom dealing with the whole situation?" JJ inquired. "After having Henry, I can't imagine giving up a daughter and being forced to wonder every day how she was doing and if she was really okay with complete strangers. I mean, I can understand why she did it, but that must have been really hard on her."

"She didn't really say, but I could tell she has a lot of regrets from the whole situation." Emily confirmed. "I need to call her tonight and let her know I'm coming with her tomorrow. I wanna make sure that, even if I don't end up with custody, the person who does is really going to take good care of her – of Mandy."

They spent the rest of their lunch discussing what all adopting Mandy would mean for Emily – everything from living arrangements to babysitting while she was away on cases to the possibility of needing to find a grief counselor for the little girl. There were still a lot of unknowns, a lot to be decided, but until after the hearing was over there was really very little she could do to prepare for the possibility of caring for a six year old.

When they got back, Hotch had already left for the day, even though it was barely 2 o'clock – a fact which had Prentiss confused and slightly worried. The only time Hotch ever left work early was when something was wrong with Jack. But when she went to Rossi and inquired, he assured her that Jack was perfectly fine and Hotch just had other stuff to do, which he hadn't gone into detail about, even with his best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

Emily pulled into a parking space just in front of the courthouse and switched the engine off. She sat there, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel – since she was early she figured she could have a little bit of time to herself to get her nerves in check. But apparently she wasn't the only one early because a rap on her window alerted her to her mother's presence. It was just before 8 am, and the plan was that they would meet the little girl and spend some time with her, which the judge and the social worker would observe. Then at 9, they and the godfather would speak with the judge in his quarters, then the judge would speak with Mandy, and then they would all reconvene and discuss the best solution for Mandy. Although the judge preferred to keep the entire process in an informal setting for the sake of the child, his ruling would still be final.

Emily took a deep breath, held it for a long moment and then expelled it and exited the car. Brief hugs were exchanged and they walked up to the courthouse in silence, only speaking again when they met the social worker who was waiting for them at the elevator on the second floor.

"Good morning, Elizabeth. It's good to see you again. And this is your daughter, Emily? Hi, I'm Janine Schofield. I'm Mandy's caseworker."

Once introductions were made, they followed her to a room down the hall while she explained that the godfather was already inside with the girl and after the introductions, she and Judge Thomas Morrison would be observing from the room beside them.

Emily chanced a quick glance at her mother's face and noticed that she seemed just as calm and collected as she always did. Apparently, meeting your six year old granddaughter for the first time couldn't beat the years of practice she had at keeping her composure in the political spotlight. Janine opened the door and Emily steeled her nerves before following her into the room, completely unprepared for what she was about to see.

Sitting at a small table in the middle of the room coloring was a small girl in a blue dress with her dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. But what caught Emily's attention was the man crouched down beside her, watching her color.

"Hotch?" Emily's mouth dropped open in complete surprise while a million thoughts ran through her mind. _Is Hotch the godfather? Does that mean he knew my sister? Was he friends with her? Did he go to the funeral yesterday? _(Elizabeth had mentioned it was yesterday when they talked last night.) _ Is that why he left the office early? Why didn't he say something? Wait, don't be ridiculous, he didn't know I had a sister – _I_ didn't even know I had a sister. So now what?_

Hotch jerked his head up and stared at the women who had just entered the room. "Prentiss? Ambassador? What are you doing here?"

"So you already know each other then?" The caseworker astutely observed.

"Uh yea, we work together. He's my supervisor."

"Wait. You mean to say that you're Jenna's biological family?" Hotch interjected in disbelief.

"She was my daughter. I gave her up for adoption when I was 19." The Ambassador confirmed, seeming slightly uncomfortable with the admission. Normally she was loath to let any of her professional acquaintances know her personal business, but this was an exceptional case.

"Wow," was all he could say in response.

An uncomfortable silence entered the room until the social worker saw fit to interrupt it. "Why don't you just spend some time getting to know Mandy and we'll discuss this situation further with Judge Morrison in an hour?" she suggested, while smiling at the little girl who had turned in her chair to watch the grown-ups talk.

Everyone nodded in agreement and Emily, not waiting for a formal introduction to make the situation even more awkward, walked over to the table and took a seat at the table. "Hi Mandy, I'm Emily. Can I color with you?" The girl didn't say anything but nodded her head and handed Emily a blue crayon and one of the coloring sheets. "Thanks. I like blue. It's my favorite color. Do you have a favorite color?"

The girl nodded her head again. "Mmhmm. Yellow. It was my mommy's favorite color too." Mandy's face seemed to droop in sadness at the thought of her mother, but she didn't cry and just kept coloring. Emily didn't really know what to say to this, so she just nodded and continued coloring, too. Hotch took a seat at the table and Mandy handed him a green crayon and a coloring sheet and he gave her one of his two-dimpled smiles in thanks.

"So Mandy, what grade are you in?" Emily inquired.

"Well, I used to be in kindergarten, in Mrs. McKinley's class, but daddy said I'm s'posed to start first grade in 2 weeks."

"Yea? Do you like school?" Hotch asked her, while dutifully coloring the grass a dark green on his picture of a house with a yard.

"Well, art class is my favorite 'cause we get to color and sometimes we get to finger paint. But only when we wear those things… they're like aprons but they're not for cooking?"

"Smocks?" Emily supplied.

"Yea, smocks."

"So do you wanna be an artist when you grow up?" Hotch asked.

"Maybe. Or a singer or maybe one of those people on the tv."

"You mean like an actress?" Elizabeth questioned, after finally gathering the courage to join the table and meet the granddaughter that she'd only seen in pictures before.

"No, like one of those people that talks to other people. Like Ellen."

"Oh, a talk show host?"

The little girl nodded emphatically, seeming enthusiastic about the idea, and when she smiled they could see that she was missing two teeth.

"You know, when I was your age, I wanted to be an astronaut and go into space and walk on the moon like Neil Armstrong." Emily commented.

"Neil who?" Mandy asked, glancing at Emily with a confused look.

"He was the first person to ever walk on the moon back in 1969."

"Oh, cool." Mandy replied, and then went back to coloring in the horse on the picture in front of her.

The time passed quickly between the four of them while the conversation continued to flow easily and effortlessly. Eventually, Mandy got bored of coloring and moved to the carpet to play with the Barbie dolls that were in the room. Grateful that she wasn't wearing a skirt, Emily took a seat on the floor beside the girl and picked up one of the dolls. Elizabeth decided to just watch and took a seat on the nearby couch.

"Come on, Aaron. You can be Ken." Mandy patted the space beside her on the floor.

Hotch seemed a little hesitant about the idea, which made Emily want to laugh at the prospect of watching her stoic boss play dolls with a little girl. "Yea, come on, Hotch. Someone has to be Ken." Emily stated with a grin on her face. His lips quirked and he shot her a look that said 'I know exactly what you're thinking right now' before taking the spot Mandy indicated and picking up the Ken doll.

"Who's Hotch?" Mandy asked.

"Aaron is Hotch." Emily replied.

"Then why do you call him Hotch if his name is Aaron?"

Debating on how best to answer without going into the dynamics of professional relationships, Emily was relieved to hear Hotch answer the question instead.

"Aaron is my first name, but Hotch is a nickname. And since we work together, Prentiss – er, Emily – calls me a nickname at work. But when we're not at work she can call me Aaron if she wants to." Hotch was talking to Mandy but looking at Emily as he answered. She nodded and felt a little flutter in her stomach before quickly looking away.

"Okay." Mandy responded without seeming to realize the fairly significant exchange that had just occurred between the two grown-ups sitting on the floor with her.

A short while later, Janine re-entered the room and asked the three adults to follow her out into the hall.


	6. Chapter 6

When they stepped outside of the room, Janine informed them that the judge would be speaking to each person individually before meeting together. And she would be watching Mandy in the meantime. She directed Elizabeth to the room where the judge was waiting, leaving Emily and Hotch to sit together on a bench in the hall in awkward silence.

"So… Aaron." Emily tried to get the conversation going, but was still getting used to the idea of using Hotch's first name.

He couldn't help smiling a little at hearing her use it. "Well, I guess it's clear why we were both off our games at the office yesterday." Hotch stated, trying to lighten the mood, to which Emily just nodded her head. "So you'd never met Mandy before?"

Emily shook her head. "I didn't even know I had a sister until Monday night."

Hotch sucked in a breath upon hearing this, imagining how that must have floored her. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow." There weren't really words to accurately describe how she felt about the whole matter. "So you knew Jenna?" There were a million questions she wanted to ask him about her, but this obviously wasn't the best time. Maybe she could get him to tell her about Jenna later.

"Yeah. Haley and I were friends with her and Steve for many years. We were the godparents to Mandy and they were the godparents to Jack. Steve and I met back when I was still a prosecutor – we worked at the same law firm. But I hadn't really seen any of them since before Haley and I divorced. It's probably been about three and a half years. After the funeral yesterday, I picked Mandy up from the foster home they'd placed her in while we were away and she stayed the night at my apartment, but she didn't really remember me from all those years ago. So what about the ambassador? Did she have any kind of relationship with Jenna and Mandy?"

Emily was glad to hear that the girl had been spared at least one night in the foster home. And was even happier to think that – no matter whether she or Hotch got custody – Mandy would never have to spend another night in that place. "When I talked to my mother last night, she said that she and Jenna had met when Jenna turned 18. And I guess they kept in contact and met up a few times over the years. Jenna would send her pictures of Mandy, but today was her first time meeting her too."

Hotch just nodded, thinking that it was hard to imagine that the irreproachable ambassador had been keeping such a large secret. But then again, when it comes down to it, everyone has their secrets, right?

Their conversation was halted at this point by the return of Elizabeth who informed Hotch that the judge would like to see him next. She took his seat when he left.

"So mom, what did the judge say?"

"He just wanted to know the background history and what I wanted my role to be in Amanda's life from here on out."

"And what did you tell him?"

"Well, I explained that Jenna and I had been discussing me meeting Amanda but she wanted to wait until she was sure that Amanda was old enough to understand the situation and understand who I was. And I explained that I live all over the world and can't really provide the home that she needs, but I do want to be a part of her life. I told him that I think you should have custody and that you and I both have the financial resources to take care of her, so that won't be an issue."

"So what did the judge say?"

"He didn't really say anything. Just listened and jotted down some notes."

After that they lapsed into silence, waiting for Hotch's conversation with the judge to finish.

Meanwhile in the judge's quarters, Hotch had finished explaining how he knew Mandy and her family and how he had become her godfather when she was born but hadn't actually seen her since she was two and a half. The judge then grilled him with questions about his job, his finances, his living situation, his relationship with Jack, and the history of the Foyet situation and how he had ended up as a single parent. It was going on 45 minutes that he had been in there, and the judge had just a few questions left.

"So Agent Hotchner, tell me how you feel about this situation. Do you really want to take custody of Amanda or do you feel an obligation to do so? Would you prefer she were placed with someone else? With Agent Prentiss, to be precise?"

"Your Honor, even though it's been over three years since I last saw Mandy or her parents, I still care very much for her. I know her parents would want her to be in a stable and loving home and I do think that I could provide that for her. But I also have known Emily Prentiss for 4 years now and I know that she could also provide that for Mandy. Even if I don't end up with custody of her, I intend on being a part of her life, so long as it's okay with Emily, which I think it would be."

The judge jotted a few notes down into the case file. "So tell me, do you have any worries about taking custody of Amanda?"

"Well, my only main concern was how Jack and Mandy would get along. But they seemed to do fine when they were together last night, so I really don't think it would be too big an adjustment for them both to make. Other than that, the only issue is that I would need to find new housing because Mandy would need a room of her own and I currently live in a two-bedroom apartment. But I am willing to do that if I need to."

The judge nodded, jotted a few notes in the case file and thanked Hotch for his time before sending him out and asking that Emily be sent in.


	7. Chapter 7

Emily cautiously approached the room that Hotch had just exited from and tentatively knocked on the door. Hearing the 'come in' from the judge, she took a deep breath and entered to find an elderly man with a rather long grey beard sitting behind a desk. She fleetingly thought of Dumbledore, before pushing the thought from her mind and introducing herself. Taking a seat, she waited nervously for the third degree to begin. The judge eyed her for a moment before speaking.

"You can relax. I'm not here to torture you." Emily chuckled a little at this and actually felt the knots in her stomach unwind a bit. "I will have to ask you some personal questions, but I'm just here to find the best solution for Amanda. Alright?" Emily nodded her head, but didn't say anything.

"Well first things first. The ambassador informed me that you have a steady job and the finances to take care of Amanda. Is that right?"

Emily nodded her head again. "Yes, I work with the FBI in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Actually, Aaron Hotchner, the godfather, is my supervisor."

"Yes, he informed me of that when I spoke with him. He speaks highly of you. It's clear he thinks you could provide a good home for Amanda." Emily didn't know what to say to that, and although she was pleased, she was also slightly embarrassed at his praise and felt her cheeks redden a bit.

"So what about living arrangements? What kind of housing do you currently have?" Emily explained about her two-bedroom apartment and how she could easily convert the spare bedroom into a bedroom for Amanda.

The judge questioned her about virtually every aspect of her life: her job and her working hours, how often she was away, her lifestyle and social habits, her neighbors and neighborhood, her previous experience with taking care of children, etc. Half an hour later, the interview seemed to be drawing to a close, but there was still one subject that he wanted to know about – the one that Emily felt least prepared to answer.

"So Agent Prentiss, I've been informed that you were unaware that you even had a sister until two days ago. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"And so you never met Jenna or Steven Davis and before today you'd never met Amanda?"

"Right."

"So then tell me Agent Prentiss, why are you so interested in adopting a girl you'd never even met before? A daughter of two people that you never had any sort of relationship with before?"

Emily pondered this question, wondering how to put into words the way she was feeling about this whole situation, how to explain that she already loved the girl even before she met her and wanted what was best for her.

Searching for the right words, Emily slowly started to explain. "You know, growing up I had always wanted a sibling. I've lived all over the world due to my mother's various assignments and even though it shaped me into who I am today, all I really longed for was some sort of permanence in my life, some sort of stability, and someone that I could rely on to always be there. Finding out that I did actually have a sister, all along, and then finding out that she had died and I would never get the chance to meet her – well, in a way, I guess I feel like I was cheated out of that relationship. Or well, at least cheated out of a _chance_ to have a relationship with her. I don't have a lot of family, and really it's just down to me and my mother now, and I don't see her that often. But family is important to me. And I don't think that I could live, knowing that there was this girl out there who was my family and never have a chance at a relationship with her. And knowing that she needs someone to take her in, I could never turn my back on her. I want to be the one that she knows as family, the one that offers her stability and love and a good home after everything she's lost in the past few days. I don't want to lose out on another family member. I've already lost my chance at having a sister. I don't want to lose my chance at having a niece, too."

By the time she was finished explaining, Emily was only just barely holding back the tears again, and wondering when she had all of a sudden become such an emotional wreck – or at the very least one of those persons who puts their heart out there for everyone to see…and break.

The judge didn't comment on her last statement, just thanked her for her time and informed her that he would see her later along with everyone else after speaking with Amanda.


	8. Chapter 8

**Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that's left a review – I greatly appreciate the positive feedback I've received on this story. **

**Also, I don't know a ton about the process of becoming a legal guardian, so basically I just googled a few things & made the rest up as I went. Please excuse any errors you find if you know the process to be different.**

Janine led Mandy to a chair in front of the judge's desk before departing, leaving the girl there to talk to the elderly judge alone. Not wanting to the girl to be too nervous, he moved out from behind his desk and took the other seat beside her before beginning.

"Mandy, do you know who I am?"

She nodded shyly before stating quietly, "Judge Morrison."

"That's right. And do you know why you're here?"

"So you can decide where I live?" The girl asked.

"Right again. I just want to find the best home for you, so to do that, I need to ask you a few questions. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Last night you stayed with Aaron, right?" She nodded. "Did you ever meet him before?"

She shook her head. "Don't think so. But he said he was friends with daddy and mommy."

He didn't want to upset her by bringing up her parents and reminding her of her recent loss, so he decided to keep the conversation moving in another direction. "So did you have fun staying at Aaron's?"

"Jack and I played with his Legos. And we had chicken nuggets for supper that were in the shape of dinosaurs, and mac and cheese, too. And at bedtime Aaron read us a story about this monkey named George that moved to a big city and lived with a man who wore a yellow hat."

"Sounds like a good story." The judge smiled at her and she enthusiastically nodded her head in agreement.

"So you met Emily today, right? What did you think of her?"

"She's nice. She smells like strawberries and she's really good at playing dolls and she knows how to color in the lines really well."

The judge smiled at the girl's simple reasoning for liking Agent Prentiss. If only everything was that easy.

"Well, Mandy, I can't make any promises, but is there someone you would rather live with between Aaron and Emily?"

"Can't I live with both?" Mandy asked in the innocent way that only a child could.

The judge chuckled at this question before solemnly shaking his head no. "Sorry, but it doesn't work that way. However, that doesn't mean you can't see both of them in the future and spend time with them both if you want to."

"Okay, then. I think I want to live with Emily. She reminds me of mommy. She has the same brown eyes and she laughs the same way mommy laughed. But I wanna see Jack and Aaron too. Jack said I could play with his cars the next time I visit."

"Alright." The judge jotted a few things down in the case file that he was required to keep before turning his attention back to the girl. "Well Mandy, that's all the questions I have for now. I have to talk to the grown-ups again about some boring details first, but then you'll be able to leave and get set up in your new home. Okay?"

Mandy nodded again and left with Janine when the judge paged her. He moved back to his chair behind the desk and glanced over the notes he had taken during the past 3 hours, just to reaffirm his decision before having Ambassador Prentiss and Agents Hotchner and Prentiss sent in for the final meeting. He waited until they were all seated before making his announcement.

"After having observed your interactions with Amanda this morning and then speaking with each of you individually, as well as with Amanda herself, I have made what I believe to be the best decision for the girl. While I understand that Jenna and Steven Davis had created a will shortly after the birth of Amanda, they regrettably had not updated it since. Although Agent Hotchner is Amanda's godfather and he is listed in their will as her guardian, it has been several years since he last had contact with them. Also, I've come to understand that in more recent years the contact between Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss and Jenna had increased substantially, leading me to believe that there was at least some recognition of the ambassador as a family member on Jenna's part, and thus by extension, her daughter Agent Emily Prentiss. While I think it would be prudent and beneficial that both Elizabeth Prentiss and Aaron Hotchner remain a part of Amanda Davis' life, I have decided to award sole custody to Emily Prentiss."

Emily's mouth dropped open in shock and she was unable to do anything but stare at the judge while she processed his words. It was only when Aaron pulled her into a very unexpected, very un-Hotch-like hug and congratulated her, that her brain began to work again. Pushing away the thought that she really liked having his arms around her, she figured she should probably say something. But what to say? After all her wishful thinking and dreaming, she hadn't really wanted to get her hopes up lest they be dashed.

"Really? Wow. I mean, thanks. I just… I don't really know what the appropriate thing is to say at a moment like this," she rambled.

Realizing that her mother was probably rolling her eyes at her daughter's inability to speak with grace and finesse, she turned around to face her. But rather than rolling her eyes, the ambassador had tears in her eyes – which shocked the hell out of Emily even more than being awarded custody of Amanda. She's fairly certain that she's never seen her mother cry – like ever. Hesitating for only a brief moment, she pulled her mother into a tight hug, knowing that even for someone as stoic as the ambassador, it had to be an extremely emotional moment to finally have her granddaughter back in their family.

The judge informed them that there were a few more details they had to go over before they were done for the day.

"Agent Hotchner, although you hadn't seen the Davis' in over three years, you are still listed as their estate executor. Are you comfortable with carrying out the duties required?"

"I am, Your Honor."

"Okay, good. Their will is fairly clear about what they want done in terms of property. Their house and property are to be sold and the funds are to be placed in an account for Amanda to be used as needed in her upbringing at the discretion of the guardian until she reaches the age of 18, at which point Amanda will have access to the funds herself. Any family possessions not sold with the estate will belong to Amanda and can be used or stored until she's older."

Hotch nodded at the judge's instructions, making a mental note to call a real estate agent later that day, as well as renting a moving van for Emily. He had a feeling that she was going to need as much help as she could get over the next few days as she got Amanda situated in her home and her life.

"The last order of business," the judge continued, "is to set up a house visit with Ms. Schofield. In cases like these, we require 4 house visits over a period of a year to ensure that the guardianship is going well. The first house visit takes place within the first month, then again at 3 months, then at 6 months, and finally at the end of the year. If at the end of the year the guardianship is going well, there will no longer be a need for visits from a caseworker. After making those arrangements, you're free to leave with Amanda and begin the process of adjusting to your new lives together."

The judge gave her a kind smile and wished her the best of luck before they left his chambers and went in search of Janine and Amanda.


	9. Chapter 9

**Just wanted to say again that I greatly appreciate the positive feedback I've received on this story. The favoriting, alerting, and esp. the reviewing all make me a very happy writer!**

Emily quelled her nerves as she approached the room that Amanda was playing in with Janine. Wondering just what she should say to the girl and what kind of reaction she would get, she paused outside the door. She turned to her mother and Hotch, who had followed her down the hall and asked to have a moment alone with Amanda first, to which they readily agreed. Taking a deep, calming breath, she entered the room and waited for Janine to exit before taking a seat beside her niece on the couch.

Knowing she had to say something, yet still unsure what to say, she was surprised when the girl beat her to it.

"So am I gonna live with you now?" Emily tried to gauge the girl's state of mind, wondering if she was upset at the prospect of living with her. But the girl only seemed to be showing curiosity.

Emily nodded her head in answer. "Yea. Is that okay with you?"

The incredulous look the girl gave her made Emily want to burst out laughing, but it was her words that truly came as a surprise. "Of course, silly. I told the judge I wanted to live with you."

"You did?"

Amanda nodded her head, her face displaying such a serious look for a six year old. "You remind me of my mommy."

The statement was so completely unexpected that Emily's eyes filled with tears for the second time that day. "I do?" The girl nodded solemnly. "Did you know… did anyone tell you that your mom and I were sisters?"

Amanda looked surprised at this statement and shook her head no. "So does that mean we're family?"

Emily nodded. "It means that you're my niece and I'm your aunt. And you remember Elizabeth? She's your grandmother."

Amanda didn't say anything at first, and Emily was beginning to wonder if she had overwhelmed the girl with the information. Finally, the girl looked up at her and she could tell there was a question she wanted to ask. "What is it, sweetie?"

"If you're my aunt, how come I've never met you before?"

It was a question that she knew she should have been prepared for, but she was starting to wonder just how many times she was going to be left speechless in one day. Thinking back to the question Amanda had asked earlier in the day about why she calls Aaron Hotch, she realized she definitely needed more practice on how to explain things to a very perceptive six year old without saying too much.

"Well, sweetie, it's kinda a long story, but your mom and I grew up in different houses with different families and unfortunately, we didn't really get the chance to know each other."

Amanda contemplated this for a moment and seemed to accept the answer as good enough. "You'd have liked her. She made the best chocolate chip cookies and gave the best hugs."

Emily smiled at the heart-warming description. "Well, maybe you can tell me more about her some time?" Amanda eagerly agreed. "Alright, great. Well, how about for now we get outta here and go find some lunch? I don't know about you but I'm starving!" She got up off the couch and Amanda followed her up, taking hold of her hand. Emily marveled at how quickly the girl had taken to her. Shock and surprise seemed to be the words of the day – or maybe rather the words of the week. It still bewildered her to think about the fact that this had all happened in the span of just two days.

When Emily emerged from the room with Amanda, she was surprised to find only Hotch standing there, her mother nowhere in sight.

Seeing that Emily noticed her mother's absence, Hotch hurried to explain. "The ambassador said she had a benefit luncheon to attend so she had to leave. She also said she's expected in Chicago by tomorrow morning so she'd call you on the way to the airport tonight." He didn't really approve of the way the ambassador was skipping out on her first real chance to get to know her granddaughter, but it wasn't his place to say anything. And from what little he knew of their relationship combined with Emily's lack of reaction to his statement, it showed that it didn't really surprise Emily in the slightest – though he could see that the disappointment was still there. Not wanting to dampen the mood, he hurried to change the subject. "Well, it's nearly lunchtime. How about I swing by and pick up Jack from Jessica's and then us boys will take you girls out for a celebratory lunch?" They started making their way towards the elevator to leave the courthouse.

"If we're celebrating does that mean we get cake and ice cream?" Amanda asked, her voice raising several octaves in excitement over the prospect.

Emily couldn't help but laugh and think back to her lunch with the girls the day before. "You know, I have a friend named Penelope and I think you guys are gonna get along really really well."

"I think we can definitely manage some cake and ice cream." Hotch told Amanda before turning to look at Emily. "By the way, we're gonna have to tell the team sometime about all this and I'm thinking the sooner the better. I'll bet they'll volunteer to help us with the packing and moving of all of the Davis' things."

"Well, I told Pen and JJ yesterday. They kinda ambushed me for lunch, so they're awaiting a phone call or visit to the office to let them know how everything turned out. Reid, Morgan, and Rossi still need to be told though. And soon. We can definitely use them to do some of the heavy lifting."

"Okay, well why don't we go to lunch with the kids and then we can stop by the office afterwards? We can tell them and then make plans for the next few days to pack and move if they're willing to help. By the way, I have a duffel bag with some of Mandy's clothes and I also have her booster seat for the car. I'll get them for you." Emily followed him to his car and took the bag while he grabbed the booster seat and secured it in the backseat of her own car.

They made plans to meet up at Chuck E. Cheese's after Hotch swung by and picked up Jack. On his way there, he called JJ and asked her to assemble the team in the conference room at 3pm for a meeting.

A/N: So I actually checked online and apparently there aren't any Chuck E. Cheese's in Quantico but I couldn't think of any other really well known kids themed restaurants (other than McDonald's, which I didn't want to use) for them to go to that most readers would recognize. So oh well, it's fanfic, right? And if I want there to be a CEC in Quantico in this story, well there will be, darnit! ;)


	10. Chapter 10

Emily was waiting with Amanda in the parking lot of Chuck E. Cheese when she got a text from JJ.

_Hey, I don't know if you're still in the hearing, but Hotch called a meeting for 3pm if you can make it._

Although she had gotten over the initial shock of Hotch being Amanda's godfather, she realized that her friends were not yet privy to that little nugget of information. Oh well, it was just one more thing to explain to the team that afternoon. She quickly replied with '_Okay, see you then,'_ before exiting the car and releasing Amanda from her seat so they could meet up with Aaron and Jack, who had just arrived.

They checked Jack and Amanda into the kids' gaming area and watched them for a while before finding a booth, each taking a seat on one of the benches so they were facing each other. Hotch ordered a pepperoni pizza from the young waitress and waited for her to leave before focusing his attention on Emily.

"So… how are you doing with all of this? I know you've had a lot happen in your life in the past few days."

He studied her intently and she had the distinct feeling that he was breaking the ban on inter-team profiling right at that moment. But for some reason, she found that for once she didn't really mind it all that much. Maybe it was because she had a feeling her relationship with Hotch – or rather, with Aaron – had changed so much in the past 4 hours. Or maybe it was because she was feeling awfully overwhelmed and confused at the changes her life had suddenly taken. All she really knew is that she was tired of trying to compartmentalize everything, and for once she'd like to actually talk about it. And in that moment, his profiling her would probably make it easier for her to sort out everything she was feeling and thinking. Well, except perhaps her feelings for him. She wasn't sure what they were yet, but she did know that it was way too soon and there was way too much going on in her life at that moment for her really to contemplate why she was starting to feel so comfortable and safe around him. And not just safe physically – that had always been there – but safe _emotionally_, which is something she hardly ever felt around anyone. She had learned it the hard way a long time ago that she shouldn't trust people with her feelings. It usually ended up badly, with her coming out more damaged on the other side of the relationship than she was going into it. But she just knew, instinctively, that Hotch wouldn't hurt her that way, at least not intentionally. So after a long moment of contemplating this, during which he waited patiently for her to answer, she decided to let him in.

"Well, I guess saying I'm overwhelmed doesn't even begin to cover it. I don't even know how I'm supposed to be feeling right now. I mean, I'm happy – ecstatic really – that Amanda is gonna live with me and I'll have this wonderful chance to build a relationship with her. But at the same time I feel really sad that she lost her mother and that I never got to meet my sister. And I still feel angry and just betrayed that my mother never even told me I had a sister until it was too late. And then I just feel completely unprepared. I'm literally terrified that I'm going to screw this up. I don't have the slightest idea how to be a good parent. And then there's just so many things that need to be taken care of that I'm worried I'm going to forget something important or we're gonna be called out on a case before I get the chance to even get her settled in at my place and find someone to watch her while we're away. And I'm worried that when I do end up having to leave her for a case that she's going to think I'm abandoning her. And I'm concerned because I know that it's only been a few days since Amanda lost her parents and I don't think it's really hit her yet and I think it's just a matter of time before it does, ya know? I just want to help her, but I don't think I know how."

Emily finally fell quiet after spilling all of that, feeling both relieved to just have it all out there and at the same time worried that Hotch was going to think she was a neurotic mess – because she definitely felt like one. She was on the verge of tears – she had been pretty much all day – but she didn't want to break down in front of Hotch. He may have been really supportive so far that day, but he was still her supervisor and she didn't want him thinking she was weak. After all, she had a reputation to uphold, right?

Just as she suspected, Hotch was profiling her, noting the way she was avoiding eye contact with him, and he knew how close she was to just breaking down and crying it all out. He also could tell how hard she was trying to hold back from doing so and instinctively knew he was the reason why she was doing it, too.

"You know Emily, you're a great agent and nothing you say or do right now is going to change my opinion on that. You're also really great with kids – I've seen you on cases before where we have to deal with children – and even though it's going to be difficult at first, I promise you it will get easier. And once you get into the swing of things and establish a routine with Amanda, things will go a lot more smoothly. But you have to stop compartmentalizing everything you're feeling and you have to start dealing with it. Considering everything that's happened, I would think it's perfectly natural for you to have conflicting emotions."

Hotch paused for a moment, debating over his next words, which came out a lot quieter than his previous ones. "As for dealing with a grieving child, well it's not easy. I still struggle with knowing what to do when Jack starts crying for Hailey." Hearing his voice thick with emotion, Emily finally made eye contact with Aaron, feeling for a moment like she was intruding on a private moment of his grief. But he pushed through the emotion and continued. "All I think you can really do in those moments is be there for them, hold them, let them know it's normal to miss them, and don't shy away from talking about them. Remind her that her parents loved her and they didn't leave her voluntarily." By the time Hotch finished talking, the tears were streaming down Emily's face. She cried for everything that she had lost and gained in a matter of a few days, but she also cried for Hotch because she could tell how hard it was for him to discuss his struggles since Hailey had died. And while she felt honored that he was willing to open up to her about that, it made her sad to think about how much he and Jack were still hurting.

As all of this made its way through her mind, she was literally sobbing at the table, her face in her hands, completely unable to reign in her emotions again. Hotch got up from the bench and moved over to her side of the table, gathering her in his arms. He held her and let her cry it out, running a hand up and down her back to soothe her.

"Emily, you're not alone in this. You don't have to do it all by yourself, alright?. I'll be there to support you and I want to stay a part of Mandy's life and the team will be there to support you, too. Okay?"

She nodded and by the time the waitress brought their pizza ten minutes later, she had quit crying and was mopping up her face with a tissue from her purse to make herself presentable again. Hotch, who had moved back over to his side of the table once her crying had stopped, went to fetch the kids from the play area to eat, and by the time they returned, the only tell-tale signs of her crying was her red eyes and the wetness still on Hotch's light blue button-up shirt.


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter's about twice as long as I normally prefer to write, but I didn't want to break the scene up, so here it is anyways. **

**Also, I've been getting a few comments that lead me to believe some people are confused…so to clarify, Hotch and Emily do **_**not**_** have joint custody. Emily has custody, but Hotch is offering to help her out when she needs it because he wants to stay involved in Mandy's life. (And secretly because he likes the idea of getting to spend more time with Emily outside of work. :) Anyways, on with the story…**

By the time they finished their meal at Chuck E. Cheese's, Emily realized that she felt more calm and relaxed about the direction her life was taking than she had in the entire last two days. Apparently, there's something to be said for crying your heart out on your boss' shoulder in public at a kids restaurant.

When they left the restaurant, they made plans to meet up in the parking lot of the FBI headquarters before heading in together. But when Emily and Amanda arrived, Hotch was nowhere in sight, even though the boys had left before them. She waited ten minutes, and just when she had decided to give up and go in without him, he pulled into the spot next to her car and got out holding a large Dairy Queen ice cream cake. She eyed the cake, raising an eyebrow to him in question. He grinned at her and passed her the cake while he got Jack out of his booster seat.

"Hey, a promise is a promise, right? We said we were celebrating and I told her we could have ice cream and cake, so I figured what's better than ice cream cake on a hot day in August?" She couldn't help but smile. It was really very sweet of him and the truth is she absolutely loves ice cream cake. Growing up, she had always requested it on her birthdays whenever they were in the states.

By the time they were headed inside, Emily carrying the cake and Hotch following behind at a slower pace holding a hand of each kid, it was already a few minutes after 3pm and they knew the team would be waiting on them.

When Emily entered the room, the first comment came from Morgan. "Hey, look Emily brought us cake guys!" But upon seeing Hotch enter, his attention and everyone else's got diverted.

Reid, in his typical clueless, tactless manner, voiced the question on everyone's mind. "Wait, what'd I miss? Who's the second kid?"

Emily rolled her eyes at Reid before answering. "Uh, everybody, this is Mandy. Mandy these are my teammates and this is where I work." The expressions on JJ and Garcia's faces were ones of instant recognition and Garcia, realizing that her friend was now the guardian to a really adorable little six year old, let out a rather loud squeal of excitement. She rushed over to where both kids were still standing by Hotch and kneeling down she pulled out two lollipops from her dress pocket. She handed one to Jack and received an enthusiastic "Thanks, Penelope!" from him. When she went to hand one to Amanda, the girl hesitated on taking it, first glancing up at Hotch and then over to Emily who nodded at her, before she shyly accepted the proffered treat and whispered her thanks.

"You're welcome, Mandy! I'm Penelope. Emily and I are the best of friends, so I bet you and I are going to be good friends too." Mandy was already warming up to the very energetic, very bubbly technical analyst and she offered Garcia a shy smile. JJ, who had followed Garcia over, though not quite with the same level of exuberance, crouched down and introduced herself as well. "Hi. I'm JJ. I like your blue dress, it's very pretty."

Emily watched Garcia show Mandy her bright purple pen that had a little yellow-haired troll on the top of it, before turning her attention back to the guys in the room who were all looking a little confused, wondering what they had missed that JJ and Garcia had been filled in on already.

"Uh guys," Emily started, pulling their attention away from Mandy, "there's a few things I haven't told you. Amanda is my niece. She –"

Before she could explain further, Reid interrupted. "She can't be your niece, you don't have any siblings. Your file states that you're an only child, born to Elizabeth and Michael Prentiss at 7:12 am on October 12 –"

"Hey!" Emily cut him off, wondering how many times she would have to stop him from giving her whole birthdate away. "I know what the file says, Reid. The file's wrong. I just found out a couple days ago, but my mother had a child – a daughter – at the age of 19 and gave her up for adoption. Her name was Jenna and she was Mandy's mother."

"_Was_?" Rossi interjected, speaking up for the first time since they'd entered the room.

Emily nodded. "Her and her husband, Steve, passed away a few days ago." 7 sets of eyes flickered over to the little girl, who had taken a seat on the floor with Jack to play with his cars. Fortunately, she seemed oblivious to the conversation the adults were having.

"And so now, what? You're taking care of her?" Rossi asked, redirecting the focus back on Emily.

She nodded again. "Hotch and I both met with the judge this morning and since she didn't have any family left, I've been given custody of her."

"Wait, Hotch, why would you meet with the judge if she's Emily's niece?" Morgan asked, clearly confused.

"Because I'm Mandy's godfather. Haley and I were friends with Jenna and Steve from when I used to practice law." Hotch explained.

Garcia gasped at the new information while the rest of the team just looked a little stunned.

Turning in her chair to look at Mandy, who was still sitting on the floor, Garcia declared, "Well, chickadee, that settles it. If G-man's your godfather and superwoman's your aunt, you were most definitely destined to be a member of our little BAU family. So welcome!" Laughter rang out through the conference room.

"You know, there's a Disney song for situations like this…" JJ stated, but when no one seemed to catch on, she continued. "It's A Small World?"

Everyone laughed again, until Reid started speaking (at which point everybody groaned). "Did you know that that song was written by the Sherman brothers for Walt Disney? It was written for a ride that was originally called Children of the World, and is believed to be the most widely translated song on Earth. The song was written after the Cuban Missile Crisis when –"

Morgan, who had already put up with enough of his rambling for one day, interrupted. "Reid, nobody cares."

Rossi, in his best sullen voice, grumbled, "Great. Thanks JJ, now I'm gonna have that blasted song stuck in my head all day long." But his wink in her direction gave away the fact that he wasn't really upset.

Emily glanced around at the room, and was pleased to see that most of the team seemed to be taking the news in stride. But she could tell that something was bothering Morgan, though he didn't seem in any hurry to say what. "Morgan. Something troubling you?"

He looked a little surprised at being called out on it and reluctant to answer her, but he did anyways. "Look, I know it's not my place to say or question, but why did your mom give up her first child and not her second?" He had met the ambassador before and she didn't particularly strike him as the type to give up family or to shirk responsibility, so the whole thing just didn't sit well with him. He was wondering what wasn't being said.

Noting how the question flustered Emily a bit, Hotch considered telling Morgan to mind his own business. But the truth of the matter was that he had been wondering that very same thing since the ambassador had told him that morning that Jenna was her daughter. And looking around the room, he noticed that seemed to be wondering, too. Except, that is, for JJ and Garcia who evidently seemed to be lacking any curiosity regarding the matter.

Emily, in the meantime, was debating on what to say. She should've figured that Morgan would be the one to read between the lines what wasn't being said. She also knew that Morgan always felt very strongly about parents being around for their kids when at all possible since he was raised in a single parent household when his father passed away, so she wasn't all that surprised that he would ask. But she also wasn't sure how much she should say. While she didn't always get along with the ambassador, she didn't want Morgan or any of the others thinking ill of her mother, so she knew she had to say something. After all, she had been raised in an environment where protecting her mother's reputation was always of the utmost importance. But it made her slightly uncomfortable sharing her mother's private business. Though, when it comes down to it, she was more uncomfortable with the idea of any of them thinking that her mother would be irresponsible, get pregnant, and then just give up or abandon a child without a second thought. And at any rate she knew she could trust her teammates to keep her confidences – or in this case, her mothers'.

"Jenna and I had different fathers. It was a couple of years before she met my father, when my mother got pregnant the first time. She was studying abroad in Russia and a guy that she knew, that she thought was a friend, forced himself on her. At that point in time, she wasn't really financially capable or emotionally ready to be a parent, so she did what she thought was best for the baby – for Jenna. But she's kept in contact with the adoptive family and had met Jenna a few times, so that's how she found out that they passed away."

Silence reigned after she was finished, and she could tell that Morgan already felt bad for asking. "Look, don't worry. I'd have been wondering the same thing. But can we just keep it in this room? I think she's already having a difficult enough time with the situation and with losing her daughter a second time around, without having it splashed across the front pages of the tabloids, okay?"

Nods of agreement met her request and she racked her brain for a quick way to change the subject. But she was spared the trouble when she felt someone tugging on the hem of her shirt and looked down to find Amanda looking up at her. "What is it, sweetie?," she asked, brushing her hand over the girl's hair.

"Can we eat the cake now? Pretty please?"

Emily smiled at the girl's pleading tone. "I think that's a great idea. Can someone run to the break room and something to cut it with?" JJ rushed out and came back quickly with a knife and paper plates and forks for everyone, and the cake was dished out and eaten with relish.

While Reid entertained Jack with magic tricks and Morgan gave Amanda a piggy back ride around the BAU, JJ and Garcia had descended upon their friend to find out how she was dealing with everything. She gave them the abbreviated version of the meeting with the judge and of what she had told Aaron at lunch – minus the tears and adding in the fact that she couldn't believe how incredibly supportive he had been the whole time. It wasn't until her two friends were grinning at each other like Cheshire cats that she realized she had accidentally slipped up and called him Aaron instead of Hotch. She quickly staved off the inevitable questions by switching the subject to packing up the Davis' house and moving everything. And just as she suspected, her friends quickly volunteered their help.

In the meantime, Rossi had approached Hotch, who was standing off to the side observing Reid and his son.

"You know, Aaron, you could've told me what was going on yesterday. I wouldn't have said anything to anyone." Rossi's tone wasn't accusing, but still Hotch felt a little guilty.

"Yea, I know that, Dave. I just didn't have any idea of how it was going to end up and I didn't really want to say anything if it turned out that someone else got custody and I wasn't ever going to see Mandy again. At least this way, someone else got custody, but I'll still get to be a part of her life."

"And a part of Emily's life too. How you feeling about that?" Rossi was very aware of the positive affect that Emily had had on Hotch, but he was fairly certain that Hotch himself was blind to it.

Hotch, who had switched his attention to watching Morgan engage in a tickle attack with a squealing Amanda, turned to pierce Rossi directly with a sharp look. "What do you mean?"

"Aaron, don't play dumb with me. You think I haven't noticed you two getting closer?"

Hotch rolled his eyes and exclaimed, "Not this again. Dave, we're just friends and teammates. I'm her supervisor, she's my subordinate. End of story."

"Right." Now it was Rossi's turn to roll his eyes.

"Anyways, do you think you and the guys could help us move some furniture out of the Davis' house this weekend? I'm planning on renting a moving truck so we can take Amanda's bedroom set and belongings over to Prentiss' place."

"Sure that'd be fine." Rossi replied before walking away. "And don't think I didn't notice how you changed the subject, Aaron." He called over his shoulder before heading over to talk to Emily. He didn't exactly have a ton of experience with children or have any of his own, but at any rate, he wanted her to know that she had his support in any way he could help. Hotch rolled his eyes again, just grateful that Dave had let the subject drop for the time being, though he had no doubts that it wouldn't be long before he brought it up again. Mentally storing the conversation away in his brain to analyze later, he strolled over to assist Morgan in the tickle war against Amanda. Though he considered the fact that really it was Amanda who needed the assistance against Morgan, it would've been extremely awkward had he started tickling his very grown-up, very male subordinate.

They left an hour later, after having made plans for JJ and Garcia to meet up with Emily and Amanda in the morning for a breakfast out, before heading over to the Davis' house to pack. Reid agreed to come along as well, and while they couldn't get Rossi and Morgan to agree to packing, they did get their offer to help with the actual moving on Saturday.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey! Just wanted to say thanks for all the reviewing and alerting and favoriting. I'm really very happy with the positive reception this story has received. **

**It's another chapter that's longer than I intended. Originally, I wasn't even going to include this scene, but in the end I decided it was needed, so here it is anyways… **

They had been in the car barely ten minutes when Emily glanced in the rearview mirror to find that Amanda had fallen asleep. Though Emily wasn't surprised, she was a little envious. It had been an emotionally exhausting day for the both of them and all she wanted to do was curl up in bed with a good book and a hot cup of tea. In the meantime, however, she used the little bit of quiet time to think about the changes she would need to make to her apartment. Amanda would, of course, use the spare bedroom for the next couple of nights until they could get the girl's things and turn it into a room of her own. She briefly considered changing her office into the girl's room and keeping the spare room for visitors, but she quickly dismissed the idea, knowing that she would need a place to work if she ended up having to bring files home with her. She definitely didn't want the girl being accidentally exposed to any of the horrible images she herself saw on a regular basis.

Thinking about the current décor of the spare bedroom, she knew they'd probably need to paint it considering the walls were currently a warm brown color – not exactly what you picture when you think of a little girl's room. But maybe they could wait until everything was a little more settled to paint because there was enough to do as is without adding redecorating to the list. She thought of a few other changes she could make, like moving the cleaning products to higher shelves and rearranging the DVD rack so that her child-friendly movies were within reach for the girl, but for the most part she felt her apartment was fairly child-safe.

She pulled into a parking spot in front of her building and switched off the car. When she turned around in her seat, she was relieved to see that Amanda was stirring from her sleep, which meant she wouldn't have to wake her up. The girl looked at her with sleepy, confused eyes and she waited a moment for the girl to recognize who she was.

"Hey sweetie, we're home." It was only after she said it that she realized that maybe Amanda wouldn't feel comfortable yet thinking of Emily's apartment as home. It was hard enough losing her parents, but she was also losing the only home she'd ever known. But the girl seemed to be taking everything in stride, and Emily reminded herself that kids were often more resilient and more receptive to change than adults were.

They made their way inside her apartment, and Emily gave her a brief tour, ending up in the spare room and explaining how they were going to change it so it could be the girl's very own room with all her things and they could decorate it just how she wanted it. Amanda had remained quiet throughout the entire walk-through of the apartment, though when Emily explained the changes they were going to make to her room she did smile a little, which Emily took as a good sign.

Sorting through her DVDs, Emily pulled out The Princess Diaries for Amanda to watch while she made dinner. The movie was one of the few child-appropriate movies that she owned and it had been a favorite of hers for years. Luckily, she was sure that the Davis' had plenty of kid-friendly videos at their house that she could get tomorrow for Amanda when they were packing. She whipped up some spaghetti and was glad to find that her niece didn't seem to be a particularly picky child, which was good because while she could cook fairly decently and make the basics, she was a lot more used to ordering take-out for one. It would take some time to get used to sharing her meals with someone and therefore needing to make more balanced and healthier meals for them to eat. Gathering the dirty dishes off the table, she quickly made a mental note to add grocery shopping to her list of things to do.

"Can I help?" Emily turned around at the sink, surprised to find the girl standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"You want to help clean up?" She asked. Mandy nodded her head but didn't move from the doorway.

"I always help in the kitchen. Daddy always called me 'mommy's little helper'."

Emily gave her a smile. "I'd love to have your help. Do you wanna dry?" She nodded and moved into the kitchen and Emily went to grab a small stepping stool out of the hall closet for the girl to stand on at the sink with her. She set up the stool, and then turned on the tap to fill the sink with soapy water. While it was running, she grabbed a cd and put it in the player she always kept on the kitchen counter to use when she was cleaning. She wasn't a fan of household chores, but good music always made it less mundane in her opinion. Journey's Don't Stop Believin' began playing and she started singing along, turning back to the sink to start washing. But what she saw made her stop in her tracks and her heart drop to her stomach. Amanda was standing on the stepping stool at the sink, but her eyes were filled with tears and she had an incredibly sad expression on her face.

"Mandy, what's the matter, sweetie?"

Instead of answering her, Amanda jumped down from her spot at the sink and ran from the room, leaving a bewildered Emily behind. She turned off the water and the music and then went in search of Amanda, quickly finding her in the girl's new bedroom, lying curled up on the bed and with her face in a pillow crying. She knocked softly on the door to let her know she was there.

"Honey, can I come in?" The girl nodded and Emily entered and took a seat beside her on the bed. Tentatively, afraid of upsetting the girl more, she placed a hand on her back and began rubbing in circles to try to calm her down. It seemed to work, and a few minutes later the girl sat up, sniffling and rubbing her still watery eyes. Emily put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her against her in a sideways hug and rubbing her arm up and down. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

When she spoke, her voice was small and still thick with tears. "You were singing mommy's favorite song."

Emily swallowed at the sudden emotion she felt threatening to overtake her. How many more things did she have in common with the sister she never met? How many more times was she going to bring up sensitive memories for Amanda without even knowing about it or meaning to?

"I was? I didn't know it was her favorite. It's one of my favorites, too."

Amanda looked up at her somberly. "It is?" Emily nodded.

Thinking back to the advice Aaron had given her at lunch earlier, she knew it was important for Mandy to know it was okay to be sad and to talk about her parents. "You know, Mandy, your parents loved you very very much. And I know you miss them a lot, sweetie." Amanda nodded fervently against Emily's side. "Wanna tell me about it? About them?"

Amanda curled more into Emily's side, seeming to take comfort from the contact and Emily instinctively tightened her arm around her as the girl started talking. "She used to sing it in the car all the time. This one time we were on the way to the store to pick up chocolate chips so we could make chocolate chip pancakes and it was playing and she was singing and I asked her how come she likes it so much and she said she met daddy at a concert when they were playing this song. Daddy loved chocolate chip pancakes and mommy loved blueberry pancakes and sometimes I got to pick which kind we would have on Saturday mornings. I like the chocolate chip ones the best, like daddy. We had pancakes every Saturday. Except this one time, when we had homemade waffles instead but they didn't turn out very well and mommy said it was because he forgot to add in the eggs."

Emily sat and listened to her story, grateful that Amanda no longer seemed on the verge of crying again. She was beginning to realize that the Saturday morning ritual had been an important part of Amanda's life. "You know, if you want, we could have pancakes on Saturday mornings and keep the tradition going. What do you think?"

Emily's offer was rewarded with a bright smile full of hope and excitement at the idea, so she made a mental note to pick up chocolate chips and pancake mix when she went grocery shopping. But she realized that she still needed to explain about her job and that she wouldn't be able to be there for every Saturday morning pancake breakfast. Though how she should explain it without upsetting the girl more, she wasn't sure.

"Uh, Mandy honey, I know we haven't had a lot of time to talk today since we had to go a lot of places and meet a lot of people, but there are a few things that I need to explain to you, okay?" The girl nodded, putting on her best six year old serious face to show she was listening intently. "Remember how we went to an office today and I showed you where I work and who I work with?" Again she nodded. "Well, even though I work there, sometimes I have to go away for my work. Sometimes we have to fly to other parts of the country and we'll be gone for several days at a time. So I won't always be around. But you'll always be able to call me and reach me on my cell phone, okay? And every Saturday I'm in town we'll have pancakes."

Mandy seemed to consider this idea for a while, before asking, "But if you go away, where will _I _go?"

"Well, sweetie, whenever my mom, your grandma Elizabeth, is in town, you'll stay with her. But when she's not, one of my friends will take care of you, okay?"

The girl thought this over before nodding. "Okay. But why do you have to go away? What do you do when you go away?"

'_Oh boy!_' Emily thought to herself. _'How do I go about explaining this? Why didn't I ask Aaron how he explains it to Jack?'_ "Well, Mandy, you know how there's good guys and bad guys in the world?"

"You mean like how in The Lion King, Simba and Mufasa are the good guys but Scar is a really bad guy?"

Emily couldn't help but laugh at the comparison. "Yea, honey, kinda like that. Me and my friends that you met earlier today, we go out and catch the bad guys so that they can't hurt anyone any more, okay?"

"So that makes you the good guys," Amanda stated in a matter of fact tone.

Emily laughed again. "Yep, that means we're the good guys."

"Okay."

Emily breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that it turned out to be fairly easy to explain and Amanda didn't seem too upset over her leaving. Though how she would react when Emily actually had to leave for the first time was anybody's guess. "How about we finish watching The Princess Diaries before you get ready for bed?"

"Okay!" Amanda hopped down off the bed, getting ready to run out of the bedroom, before she stopped and turned around to look at Emily with a guilty look on her face. "But we didn't finish the dishes."

Emily shot her a smile. "That's okay sweetie. I'll finish them later. You can help me the next time."

"Okay." Amanda returned her smile and they headed to the living room to finish watching the movie.

Later, after her niece was in bed, Emily headed to the kitchen to finish the dishes while simultaneously calling her mother. She wasn't surprised that the ambassador had forgotten to call her earlier – it was fairly typical behavior from her – but she figured she'd call her anyways and update her on the situation and on the plans they had for packing and moving Amanda's things over the next couple of days. Perhaps if she were going to be in town again she would want to help – though it was doubtful.


	13. Chapter 13

Breakfast the next morning was a loud affair at the local IHOP. Even with Morgan and Rossi missing (at the office, holding down the forte while the others were away), the other 5 members of the team – plus Amanda – could be an enthusiastic bunch when they had the chance to get together without the stress of the job. Hotch had decided that the whole packing thing would be easier to deal with if Jack wasn't underfoot the whole time, so he left him at Jessica's with promises to pick him up for dinner later. Garcia had deemed it fit to lavish Amanda with gifts now that she was officially a part of their BAU family, and had brought the girl a new dress, a stuffed penguin, and a pencil with a blue-haired troll topper of her own. Sometime between the waffles being delivered and the check being paid, Hotch announced their plan of attack for the day's mission. They would pack up Amanda's clothes and anything around the house that Amanda might want – then or at a later date – and once they had finished, he would hire professionals to come in and deal with the rest. Most of the furniture would be sold in an estate auction, for which he would also hire professionals to take care of, but the things like Steve and Jenna's clothes that Amanda had no use for would be packed up and donated.

After breakfast, they headed to the Davis' house, following each other in their cars with Hotch leading the way like some sort of peculiar parade. They pulled up outside a two story Dutch Colonial house, and Amanda, excited to be back at her home, immediately undid her seatbelt and jumped out of the car, running up the sidewalk to where Hotch was already standing at the door waiting. Emily followed at a much more reserved pace, already feeling strange about the fact that she was going to be entering the house of and going through the possessions of a sister she had never met. She felt like she was intruding into a world that she hadn't been invited into. She didn't even know if her mother had ever told Jenna that she had a sister. That thought stopped her cold on the sidewalk. Why hadn't she thought to ask that question until now? What if Jenna knew about her and had decided she didn't want to meet her? How would she feel then about Emily taking care of her daughter?

"Hey, are you alright?" JJ's hand on her shoulder and the look of concern on her face brought Emily's mind back into focus and she shoved the thoughts away for a conversation at a later date with her mother.

Mentally shaking herself, she put a smile on her face, hoping not to give away just how unnerved she felt by the direction her thoughts had just taken. "Yea, I'm fine. It's just a little weird, y'know?" JJ nodded and Emily breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't pursue the matter further. They continued up to the house and JJ went inside to join Amanda, Garcia and Reid, but Hotch stood waiting for her at the threshold, gripping several flattened boxes in his hands to use for packing.

"She wouldn't have minded." Hotch told her when she approached the door. At seeing her confused look, he explained. "Jenna. She wouldn't have minded. She was very… hospitable. Very welcoming." Looking at him, she paused a moment to wonder how it was possible that he had become so adept at reading her mind, before nodding her head and walking inside the house while he followed her.

Immediately she felt her profiler instincts kicking into gear as she surveyed the living room, trying to discern what kind of home this had been for Amanda and for her sister. There were still a few toys lying out on the living room floor, but for the most part the house seemed clean and organized. The colors were warm and inviting, the furniture used but not worn. Overall, it seemed to be a happy home. A few photo frames on a mantel above a fireplace caught her attention and she crossed the room to look at them, starting on the far left and looking at each picture one by one. The first one was a picture of a younger Amanda on a pink bike with training wheels and a tall, redheaded man, who Emily could only assume was Steven, stood behind her watching with a smile on his face. The second picture was of Amanda as a baby when she couldn't have been more than a year old. She was wearing a yellow dress and happily chewing on a rubber toy. When Emily got to the third picture, she couldn't resist picking it up to look at it more closely. It was a family picture and must have been taken recently, considering that Amanda looked about the same age as she did now. But it wasn't Amanda that caught her eye, or even the redheaded man behind her. Rather it was the brown eyes that she shared with the woman whose home she now stood in, whose daughter she now took care of. She couldn't help but stare at her sister, trying to take in every little detail possible and noticing that they had the same strong jawline, too.

She wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the picture when Hotch walked up behind her and put his hand at the small her back, startling her out of her reverie. When she looked up at him, he was startled at the amount of emotion in her eyes. She wasn't crying, but she looked lost, confused, and maybe a little broken. It scared him to see her like that – apart from lunch the day before, he was used to seeing her in a much more emotionally controlled manner where he never knew what she was thinking or feeling unless she told him. He was starting to realize just how much this whole situation had really rocked her and set her off-balance.

"Will you tell me about her? Not now, but sometime? Please, Aaron?" She asked him, uncertain of what he would say but desperate to know more.

Listening to her plead for something so simple as wanting to know about her sister, he started feeling guilty for the first time that he had had a friendship with Jenna that she had been deprived of. It didn't feel right to him. So he agreed. "Yeah, of course. How about we go out to dinner one night and you can ask me anything you want about her?" He was making the offer to let her know that he would gladly share what he could with her, but it wasn't until the words were leaving his mouth that he realized they might sound like he was offering to take her on a date. He wasn't sure how she would take it, but for some reason the idea of her thinking of it as a date didn't bother him as much as he thought it should. And that in itself was something he would have to analyze at a later time. After all, a supervisor definitely wasn't supposed to _want_ to take his subordinate out on a date – no matter how beautiful or incredible he thought she was.

Emily, on the other hand, was trying hard to figure out just what he meant. _Was he asking me on a date? Or just offering up some time to tell me about her? Does he _want_ to spend time with me? Or was he just being nice? _But even though she wasn't sure how _he_ felt about it, she couldn't deny the fact that her heart had jumped a little when he made the offer. So date or non-date, she was definitely going to agree.

"That'd be great, thanks." She nodded and looked up into his eyes just in time to see something that looked like relief pass over them before he quickly schooled his features into their normal unreadable expression. "But maybe we should wait a while 'til things settle down. I still have to get Amanda settled in at my place, and get her registered for a school nearby and then there's no telling when our next case will be." She was rambling. She hates it when she rambles, but damn it, this guy made her nervous. "But I really do want to have dinner with you… to, you know, talk about Jenna." _Wow, that didn't sound lame or anything_, Emily chided herself, barely keeping from rolling her eyes.

His lips twitched and she had the distinct impression that he wanted to laugh, and for good reason – she knew she sounded ridiculous and not really like herself. She blew out a breath and turned her attention back to the picture in her hands. "I guess we should take the pictures with us. I'm sure Amanda will want to have them, and we can put a few up around the apartment so she feels like it's her home too, not just mine."

He nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. Why don't I gather the pictures and you can go see if Amanda or the others need any help."

She gave him a small smile and headed for the stairs. "That's probably a good idea. I'd probably spend more time looking at the pictures than actually packing them away."

She found Amanda in her room, explaining all the names of her stuffed toys and dolls to Garcia, while JJ was dutifully opening drawers and pulling out clothes to put into a suitcase she had found in the closet. Reid, on the other hand, was quickly reading through a children's book filled with princess stories that he had pulled from a bookshelf in the girl's room. Rolling her eyes, she quickly tasked him with going downstairs to pack up DVDs and toys in the living room, while they finished packing up the girl's possessions upstairs.

They ordered in Chinese for lunch and by three o'clock they had packed pretty much everything that would be taken over to Emily's apartment on Saturday or put into storage for the girl to have when she got older. It turns out that packing up most of a house goes much faster when there are four people to do it – Garcia ended up entertaining Amanda for most of the day.

Emily thanked her friends profusely for their help and waved goodbye as Reid, Garcia, and JJ all drove off, leaving her standing in the living room with Hotch while Amanda played with a few toys in her room that hadn't been packed away yet.

Once they were gone, Hotch turned to Emily. "I have to go and pick up Jack, but there are a couple of things I wanted to discuss with you first."

That got her attention, and she just hoped that he wasn't planning on rescinding his dinner invitation. "Okay?"

He chuckled. "Don't look so worried. It's nothing bad. At least, I don't think so."

"Okay?" Now she was just puzzled.

"Well, first things first, Strauss will have to be told that you're now responsible for a child. But I can take care of that so you don't have to deal with her." She smiled at the thought of him protecting her from Strauss. It was rather sweet of him, she thought. "But you'll need to stop by the office tomorrow to meet with Human Resources and fill out some paperwork so you can put Amanda on your health insurance and things like that. I don't think it'll take very long, so you could leave her with Garcia. Or I'll be back at the office tomorrow as well so I could take her." Emily just nodded at this. There always seemed to be a lot of paperwork to be taken care of whenever there was a big change in your life. "There's one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about though. I guess you already know that Jenna and Hailey were good friends and even though I didn't really see Jenna and Steve after the divorce, Hailey stayed in contact with them. And since Hailey was living with her sister, Jessica and Jenna had met a few times and I think she met Amanda once as well. So I was talking with Jessica and telling her about everything that's been happening, and well, to make a long story short, she's offering to watch Amanda too while she watches Jack when we go out of town. I told her I'd talk to you about it and see what you think."

"Oh." That definitely wasn't what she'd been expecting to hear. The truth was that she still needed to find someone to watch Amanda while she was gone, but the idea of Jessica watching her seemed a little strange to consider. Granted, she had met Jessica and she was nice, and she knew that Jack was well taken care of when he was at his aunt's. It wasn't that she had a problem with Jessica; it was that she knew if she took her up on the offer, she would be tying her and Aaron's families even closer together than they already were. And while taking him up on an offer for a date (non-date?) was one thing, bringing the children into it was a whole other thing. She didn't want to do anything that could get Amanda hurt in the long run if things ever became awkward or strained between her and Aaron. And even if their relationship never went in a romantic direction, they were already leaning towards a friendship that was closer than was strictly normal for typical supervisor-subordinate relationships. This is definitely something she would have to think over.

But fortunately, he seemed to understand that. "Look, just think it over. No pressure. It's just an option that's there if you want to take it. You can call Jessica up and talk to her about it if that'd help."

"Yea, okay, thanks. I'll think it over and maybe give her a call later tonight." He nodded and they dropped the conversation for the time being.

They carried a few suitcases and boxes out to Emily's car, leaving most of the boxes and all of the girl's bedroom furniture to be moved on Saturday. Hotch bid them both goodbye, giving Amanda a hug and promising to see her tomorrow, before he left to pick up Jack.


	14. Chapter 14

It was going on seven o'clock and Emily was just sitting down to play a game of Candy Land with Amanda when she her cellphone started buzzing on the living room coffee table. She picked it up and glanced at the ID before answering – it was Aaron.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, Prentiss." _We're back to Prentiss? Well, I guess I know it's not a personal call._ "Uh, I know this is really bad timing, but we've got a case and we need you with us in New York." Emily got up and walked into the kitchen in an attempt to not let her dismay show to Amanda.

"But I put in for personal days. Hotch, you know I can't leave right now. Mandy and I still need to get used to living with each other. She needs to get used to relying on me. And she needs to know she can count on me to be there for her."

"I know. Emily, I'm sorry. I wouldn't ask, but it's a really bad one and it's international. We need your translation skills. This guy's been killing women all over Western Europe and now he's in New York City and he's already killed 2 women there." The line was silent for a long while and he was starting to wonder if she'd hung up on him. "Emily?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm just wondering what to do. I really hate to leave her. There's still a lot to be done. She's supposed to start school in just over a week and I haven't even registered her at a school yet. I haven't even worked out who she'll stay with when I leave." Emily was just barely holding back on the panic button. How had her life suddenly gotten so complicated? Wasn't it just last week when she'd get a call and pick up her bag and go, just like that? But now, there were a thousand and ten things to worry about, none of which she actually had _time_ to worry about if this killer really was as bad as he sounded. And knowing that Hotch wouldn't call her elsewise, she could definitely assume that he was.

"I know this is far from ideal, but this is what parenthood is like with this job. Sometimes you have to make hasty decisions and a lot of times you have to leave at the drop of a hat. It won't be easy for Amanda at first, but she'll get used to it and so will you." He gave her a moment to let that sink in before continuing with his persuasion. He was trying to avoid having to order her onto the jet, because he knew that would just make the situation worse, but if it came down to it, he'd pull rank to get her on this case. "Jessica can watch her this one time and then you can decide when we get back if you want her to continue watching Amanda or if you want to have someone else do it, okay? And as for registering her for school, well hopefully we'll be back before school starts, but if we're not I'm sure we could get Jessica or Garcia to take care of it. And frankly, if you want her in the best school, then you should just go ahead and register her at the private school Jack will be starting kindergarten at. When I had to pick a school for him, I had Garcia do a very thorough background check on all of the schools in the area, and all of the teachers and staff at the schools, and George Washington Elementary is by far the safest and has the best academic standards."

This was a lot to take in, but ever since Monday night she was starting to feel like a real pro at absorbing a lot of unexpected information all at once. She hated the idea of leaving, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to stay behind in good conscience. "Okay, I'll go. If you're sure Jessica really doesn't mind, I'll leave Mandy with her while we're gone. And if we're not back within a few days, I'll deal with the school issue then."

"Okay, great. Thanks, Emily. I know this isn't ideal, but I promise it'll get easier as time goes on. Just pack a go-bag for yourself and one for Amanda and I'll swing by your place in 30 minutes to pick you up and we can drop the kids off together before heading to the jet." They said their hurried goodbyes and Emily hung up the phone.

"You're leaving?" Startled, Emily turned around to find that, unbeknownst to her, Amanda had followed her into the kitchen. She walked her into the living room, where they both took a seat on the couch.

"I have to go. For my job. You and Jack will be staying together at Jack's Aunt Jessica's. But I'll be back in a few days, and I'll make it up to you, okay sweetie? We'll play Candy Land and we'll have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast."

Amanda stood up off the couch and started yelling. "I DON'T WANNA HAVE PANCAKES WITH YOU! I DON'T WANNA LIVE WITH YOU! YOU'RE NOT MY MOM!"She ran out of the room and a few seconds later Emily heard the girl's bedroom door slam shut. She knew that Amanda was just hurting and lashing out, but that didn't stop her words from inflicting a painful sting right into Emily's heart. She wanted to cry but knew she had to be the one to keep her emotions in check. But thinking about how much she knew her niece was hurting in that moment hurt a lot worse than the words that had been yelled at her, and she had to blink rapidly to keep the stinging in the backs of her eyes from turning into tears.

Figuring it was best to give the girl some time to cool down a little, she busied herself with making a go-bag for herself and then pulling some clothes from the suitcases she'd brought back from the Davis' house to make a go-bag for Amanda. A few minutes before Hotch and Jack were due to arrive she knocked on Amanda's door and let her know it was nearly time to go. When she emerged from her room, she refused to talk to Emily, her face set in an expression of anger. The way she clenched her jaw in a fierce show of stubbornness and fury would've been almost cute if it wasn't for the fact that it was heart-wrenching for Emily to see.

When Hotch came to pick them up, she made small talk in the car with Jack to ease the awkward silence, hoping that the boy wouldn't pick up on the tension, though knowing she'd have no such luck with his father. The hardest part came when they dropped the kids off at Jessica's and she kneeled down to give Amanda a hug goodbye and Amanda refused to hug her back. After that, she crawled into the car and gave up the pretense of everything being okay as she broke down into the tears she had been trying to hold off on for the last hour.


	15. Chapter 15

By the time Hotch got into the car a couple minutes later after giving Jessica Emily's contact numbers and saying goodbye to Jack and Amanda, Emily was already wiping her eyes and trying to hide the evidence of her tears. But it didn't matter because Hotch could see through the façade anyways.

"You okay?" He asked her as he started the car and headed them in the direction of the BAU jet.

She shrugged her shoulders because, truthfully, she wasn't sure if she was or not. "She's really mad at me. And I feel terrible for leaving her." She sniffed, holding back on the tears that were threatening again. She rolled her eyes and gave a watery chuckle. "God, I'm sorry, Hotch. I'm not sure when I became such a big crybaby. I'm fairly certain I haven't cried this much since I was a teenager."

Glancing over at her moist eyes, Hotch felt a little guilty for being the one that had to call her away. And, not for the first time, he found himself cursing the unsubs that didn't know how to stick to a timetable. _How much easier would their lives be if the unsubs followed a 9 to 5 schedule?, _he thought to himself wryly. "I really am sorry, Emily."

She shrugged her shoulders again. "'It's not your fault."

He glanced over at her, noticing that she looked really dejected at the moment. "I promise it really does get easier – for both of you. And she won't stay mad forever. In a few days you'll be back and you can make it up to her then."

She nodded and they lapsed into silence for the rest of the ride to the airport. A somber Emily boarded the jet, and Morgan was the first one to notice. "Hey, Princess. Everything alright?"

"Yep, everything's fine." She answered in a tone that left no room for questions – not from him or anyone else on the team who was close enough to hear the conversation. She really didn't want the attention right at that moment. She just wanted to focus on the case, come up with a profile, catch the unsub and go home – all as fast as possible.

The flight to New York would take a little over an hour and once they were in the air, they got started right away. Pulling open the case file to examine the pictures of the two women's bodies that had been murdered by their unsub, Emily forced her thoughts of Amanda to the back of her mind, knowing that she owed her team and the case her full attention so they could do their best work. It didn't take long for JJ to brief them on the details of the case and to get the updates from Garcia. Hotch handed out the assignments for them to work on once they landed: he and Reid would go to one crime scene while Rossi and Morgan went to the other. JJ and Emily would head to the local police station where JJ would take care of the press and Emily would contact the lead detectives on the cases in European countries to get a better idea of the details of those murders and crime scenes.

When they landed, they were met at the airport by several police officers who split up and took the three separate pairs to their selected destinations. In the car on the way to the police station, JJ cut straight to the chase. "So, it's only been two days. How'd Amanda take you leaving?"

Emily raised an eyebrow at her. "That obvious, huh?"

JJ shot her a grin. "Yea, well, call it mother's intuition. So she was upset?"

"Well, if you call her yelling at me, and saying she doesn't want to live with me, and then refusing to talk to me 'upset', then yea, I'd say she was upset."

JJ just nodded, and not for the first time Emily was glad that her friend was perceptive enough to not try to console her with empty platitudes. She had a feeling that this was just the first of many times that she would need to rely on JJ's kind demeanor and experience in mothering. "So does Henry ever get upset when you have to leave?"

JJ seemed to think on this for a moment before answering. "It doesn't happen very often. But then, I've been leaving and coming back ever since before he was born, so I guess he's kind of used to it. He doesn't really know any other way of life, but Amanda does. So she'll just need some time to get used to it, to adjust."

"Yea, Hotch was saying pretty much the same thing." Emily glanced over at her friend to find that JJ was grinning at her.

"So what's up with you and him?"

"What do you mean what's up? Nothing's up. We're just friends." Emily groaned internally at how defensive she knew she just sounded. JJ may not technically be a profiler, but she was damn good at picking up on what wasn't being said. Sighing, she gave in, knowing it would happen eventually and she might as well just get it over with. "I don't really know what's up with us. He's been great this whole week. And we're going to dinner…but it's not a date. At least I don't think it's a date. Maybe it is. I don't really know what it is, it's just a chance for us to talk, I guess. I asked him to tell me about Jenna and he offered up the idea of us going to dinner to talk about her. Do you think that qualifies as a date?"

JJ couldn't hide the grin on her face, even knowing that it would probably just irk Emily to see it. "I don't really know. Maybe you should talk to Hotch and see if he thinks of it as a date." As expected, Emily rolled her eyes at the suggestion. JJ knew that Emily wasn't exactly the 'let's talk about our feelings' type, but maybe she could give her friend a shove in the right direction anyways. "Do you want it to be a date?"

"Ugh." Emily groaned and slumped down in her seat. "I don't know. Maybe... yes. But my life is already too complicated right now to add dating my boss to the mix. And I am so not the type of girl that dates her boss anyways. JJ, my life is such a mess right now."

JJ couldn't help laughing a little at her friend. "You do know that liking a guy and wanting to go on a date with him isn't the end of the world, right? So what if he's your boss? Hotch is a great guy and you both need someone who you can rely on, who understands the job, and who knows the toll it takes. You'd actually be going into a relationship with your eyes wide open. You already know what kind of person Hotch is, so that'd take some of the initial guess work and hesitation out of the equation."

"Whoa, back up. Who said anything about a relationship? I'm just talking about a potential date."

"Emily, get real. Neither you nor Hotch are the type to do casual. If you're in it, then you're in it for the long haul and the real deal. Which is probably why you're so reluctant to get into it in the first place."

"Jayje!" Emily grumbled with an almost whiny voice. "Isn't there a moratorium on inter-team profiling?" She knew her friend was right, but that doesn't mean she was ready to admit it.

JJ just laughed at her again. "Maybe. But you know I'm right." The SUV pulled into a parking spot in front of a large, red brick building. "But we'll finish this discussion later. Right now we have an international slimeball to catch."

Emily nodded and hopped out of the vehicle to follow their police escort into the building. But before she'd even made it inside her phone started ringing. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and glanced at the I.D. to find a number that she'd only just programmed into her phone that day – Jessica was calling her.


	16. Chapter 16

"Jessica?" Emily answered the phone wondering if she should be worried. But she didn't have long to wonder as Jessica's rushed reply sent her into alarm.

"Emily! I'm glad I got a hold of you! I was giving the kids a bedtime snack and I didn't know that Amanda's allergic to bananas and she had this reaction and she couldn't breathe so I called 911 and they're taking her to the hospital and I'm following them there right now and I thought I'd better call you. Emily, I'm so sorry, I had no idea!"

"Oh my god! What? Oh my god! She's allergic to bananas?" Emily felt the panic starting to overwhelm her for a moment before she pushed it back down so she could focus on what she needed to do. "Okay, I'm leaving right now. Call me as soon as you hear _anything_, alright?"

"Yea, okay, I will." Jessica replied.

"Okay, I'll call you when I land if I haven't heard from you yet." Emily ended the call, not bothering with goodbyes, and turned to JJ who was still standing at the door, holding it open for her, and looking at her with a worried face.

"What's going on? Is Amanda okay?"

"I don't know. She had an allergic reaction to a banana and she's on the way to the hospital right now. I didn't even know she had allergies. I have to go! I have to get back there now!"

"Okay, don't panic. I'll call the pilot. He can fly you back there – it'll be a lot quicker than booking a commercial flight. I'll make sure he's ready to go by the time you get back to the airport." JJ got the attention of the police escort that had driven them to the station and ordered him to drive Emily back to the airport. Then she turned back to Emily who was already climbing into the car. "Don't worry about Hotch. I'll call him and fill him in on what's going on. We'll get someone to translate for us, so don't worry about coming back, alright? And Emily? Call me once you hear something, okay?" Emily nodded and a moment later the officer put the car in reverse and pulled out, leaving JJ standing outside the building with her cell phone out, dialing the pilot.

Less than 15 minutes later they pulled into the airport and Emily was relieved to see that the jet's hatch was already open, meaning that the pilot was already there and getting prepped to go. Grabbing her go-bag that was still sitting in the backseat of the SUV, she bolted out of the vehicle and nearly ran to the steps, eager to take off as soon as possible. What she didn't expect to find was Hotch standing in the cabin, waiting for her.

"Hotch? What are you doing here?"

"JJ called me. She said that Amanda had an allergic reaction and is headed to the hospital. And she said you were flying back. So I thought I'd join you."

"But… but what about the case?"

"I wanted to, uh… I can come back once I'm sure she's okay, but I wanted to be there for her… and for you." Emily felt a little stunned by that proclamation. Since when did Hotch prioritize anything over a case? She didn't know what to say in response so she just nodded. But she wanted him to know that she appreciated the support so she briefly grasped his hand and kissed him on the cheek before taking her seat to prepare for takeoff.

Once they were in the air, Emily was spending the flight not saying anything but just fidgeting in her seat, constantly tapping her fingers, picking at her fingernails, or checking her watch. To be honest, the fidgeting was driving Hotch insane, but he wasn't looking to start an argument so eventually he got up and made her a cup of coffee in the little kitchenette area, covertly trying to occupy her hands while simultaneously hoping the hot drink would soothe her nerves. Shortly after takeoff, Hotch called Jessica to get an update and let her know that both he and Emily were on their way back. Jessica had arrived at the hospital – with Jack in tow, unfortunately, as she didn't have time to find someone else to watch him – and was still waiting to hear from the doctor about Amanda. After Hotch informed Emily of this, she resumed her fidgeting and kept at it until they were landing back in Quantico.

Once they landed and got into Hotch's SUV, Emily called Jessica as Hotch drove them to the hospital. By this point in time, Jessica had talked to the doctor who assured her that Amanda was going to be alright. Emily breathed a sigh of relief at hearing this, but still felt anxious and knew she wouldn't feel better until she saw Amanda herself. When they arrived at the hospital, less than 10 minutes later thanks to Hotch's Indy 500-style driving, they headed into the emergency entrance and immediately saw Jessica and Jack in the waiting room, still waiting to be told where Amanda was being moved to.

"Daddy! Emily!" As soon as he saw Hotch, Jack jumped down from his seat and ran to them. "I thought you were in New York?"

Hotch picked his son up and hugged him tightly. "We _were _in New York, buddy. But we heard Mandy got sick, so we came back to check on her."

Jack nodded solemnly and started explaining the events of the past couple hours, while Emily headed over to talk to Jessica.

Jessica looked a little wary, like she was unsure if she was going to get yelled at or not, but Emily just pulled her into a brief hug. "Thank you for taking care of her, for reacting quickly enough to get her help. I didn't know she's allergic to bananas either."

"And latex, too." Jessica added. "The doctor said that if you're allergic to one, it's really common to be allergic to the other as well. She may also be allergic to kiwi and avocado, but she'll need to be tested to determine for sure."

Emily nodded, storing the information away for later, knowing that she would have to do a sweep of her apartment to remove anything that could cause harm to Amanda. "So what else did the doctor say? And when can we see her?"

"The nurse is supposed to come by any minute now and tell us what room she's been moved to. The doctor said she went into anaphylactic shock. So they gave her epinephrine and started her on a breathing treatment to increase the amount of oxygen in her system. They want to observe her overnight before they release her. And they recommend getting an Epipen for the future, just in case."

Emily nodded again and they fell silent as they watched Jack explain to Hotch how they had followed the ambulance to the hospital with its lights and sirens blaring. When the nurse still hadn't come ten minutes later, Emily found herself pacing the waiting room, trying to work off the nervous, restless energy that was threatening to consume her. Another five minutes later and Hotch went to find the nurse himself. He came back quickly with a room number on the third floor and they headed there right away.

Emily was the first one to rush into the room, though brought up short by the sight of the little girl in the hospital bed with an oxygen tube in her nostrils and a small hospital gown covering her petite frame. She looked small and lonely as she sat there looking out the hospital window. It wasn't an image that Emily wanted to remember, but she had a feeling that it was now permanently burned into her memory.

Seconds after she entered the room, Amanda noticed the arrival, her attention switching from the window to the door and her eyes going wide. "Emily! You came back!"

Emily quickly crossed the room and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed. "Of course I came back, sweetie. I'll always come back to you. Is that why you were upset with me? Because you thought I wouldn't come back?"

The tears welling up in Amanda's eyes told Emily that she had guessed right and she pulled the girl to her chest to let her cry out the pain and shock that the last several hours had been for her, and maybe even to cry a few tears for the pain and shock of the last week. She held her tight, whispering soothing words, and brushing her hand over the girl's hair while she cried. After a little while, the sobs seemed to gradually lessen into periodic sniffles. "Mandy, honey, your mommy and daddy loved you very much and they didn't want to leave you. They would've come back if they could. And I love you very much, too. And sometimes I have to go away, but I will always come back as soon as I can, okay?"

Amanda nodded and let go of the tight hold she had on Emily's shirt to sit back against the pillows. Emily felt a tug on her pant leg and looked down to find Jack standing next to the bed, motioning that he wanted to be lifted up. She pulled him up so he could sit on the bed next to her, and he took hold of Amanda's hand to comfort her in a way that only another kid could – especially another kid in similar circumstances.

"Mandy, don't cry. Daddy has to leave too, but he always comes back. And Emily and daddy leave together, so now they can come back together. And we can throw away the bananas so you won't have to eat no more. Right, Aunt Jessica?" Jack looked back at his aunt, eager for her approval of his solution to the problem.

All the adults in the room laughed and Jessica nodded her head in agreement. "Right."

A short while later, Amanda fell asleep and Jack was clearly getting drowsy. So when a nurse entered the room to kick them out, everyone went willingly except for Emily, who had taken up a chair to sleep in for the night. Hotch promised to call JJ for her and let the team know what was going on while he also got an update on the case. He would fly out again in the morning after driving Emily and Amanda home once Amanda was released from the hospital.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys! Sorry my updates haven't been as frequent lately – things have been a little busy. And as always, my undying gratitude for those reading, reviewing, alerting, and favoriting. :)**

After Hotch dropped them off at home late Friday morning and headed back to New York, Emily and Amanda took up residence on the living room couch to watch Monsters, Inc. Still recuperating from her trip to the hospital, Amanda fell asleep within twenty minutes of the movie starting. Emily switched it off and covered her in a blanket, then ran through her mental checklist of things she needed to get done while she had the chance. First things first – rid the apartment of any potentially harmful materials or fruits. Quickly googling 'household items made of latex', she ended up throwing out several items she would need to replace, including the Band-Aids, adhesive tape, and a bag of balloons leftover from when the team celebrated Rossi's birthday a couple of months before. Once she had thoroughly ransacked the house in search of the offending items (and subsequently restored everything that didn't get thrown out), Emily went back to the computer to look up professional movers in the area she could hire.

As much as she appreciated the guys' offer to help, she didn't want to wait until they got back from a case to move Amanda's things. She wanted her niece to feel like the apartment was her home, too. And plus she didn't want the guys to feel obligated to help her move Amanda's things if they came back from the case exhausted and in need of a break. Even though she did what she had to do and knew that the team understood and supported her in that, she still felt a little guilty for having left them there in New York to do all the work. So she definitely wasn't intent on demanding more from them after what was probably going to be a draining case.

Hotch had already rented a moving truck for the following day, so all she needed to do was hire a couple of buff guys to do the heavy lifting for her. It didn't take long to find a good company online, make the call, and set up the moving plan for the following day. By the time she was finished with the call, it was nearly lunch time so she headed for the kitchen, calling Garcia for an update on the way.

"Sorceress for all things technologically inclined. What can my magical powers do for you today?"

Chuckling at her friend's quirkiness, Emily responded. "Hey Pen, it's Emily. Can you wield your magical prowess to give me an update on the case?"

"Well hello my darling! How's the little darling doing? And no, I can't. I'm under strict orders from G-man not to tell you anything about the case because you're supposed to be on break and taking care of the little angel. So I can't tell you that the case is going well, or that the unsub slipped up and made a mistake. And I can't tell you that they've got a suspect in mind already. And I also can't tell you that our boss-man and chocolate Adonis are on their way to his house as we speak to talk to the wife."

"Haha. Great. Then, this is me not thanking you for what you didn't tell me. And the little angel is doing okay. Right now she's sleeping on the couch while I'm making lunch. I already went through the house this morning and removed a bunch of things that I didn't know had latex in them. Did you know that even some types of shower curtains have latex? Luckily, I won't have to replace mine. I'm rather attached to it – it's got the periodic table of elements on it."

"Really, Emily? That's something I would expect from Reid. You really are a big nerd."

"You say that like you're surprised. So what's yours got on it then?"

"Ooh, actually, I just got a new one that I ordered online a couple weeks ago. Remember that Space Invaders game that was like one of the very first video games _ever_? I used to play it when I was a kid on an Atari. Man, it's so old school, but I love it."

"Well, hey, at least mine's educational."

"Puh-lease, chickadee. Space Invaders beats 'educational' every day of the week and twice on Sundays."

Emily chuckled and rolled her eyes at the friend who never failed to keep things upbeat for the team. "If you say so, Pen. Anyways, I should probably get going, but one quick thing. Hotch said that he had you run background checks on schools for Jack. Could you send me that information? I'm thinking of sending Amanda to the same school as Jack, but I want to look at all the options first."

"You'll have them in a heartbeat, mon amie."

"Thanks, Pen. You're the best."

"No problem. Kiss the little angel for me. Garcia out."

After lunch was over, Amanda went back to watching Monsters, Inc., determined to stay awake this time to watch what was one of her all-time favorite movies – for this month anyways. Emily, on the other hand, still needed to take care of several things, so she crossed the hall of her apartment building and knocked on the door of her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Sanchez, to see if she could watch Amanda while she ran a few errands. Luckily, once Mrs. Sanchez expressed her love of Sulley, the large furry blue monster with horns and purple spots that starred in Monsters, Inc., Amanda didn't seem too perturbed by the idea of Emily leaving to make a quick run to the grocery store.

Since tomorrow would be her first Saturday with Amanda and she was in town, Emily wanted to make sure she kept her promise of Saturday morning pancakes. And while she was out, she made a stop at George Washington private elementary school to register Amanda in their first grade class. She'd had a chance to look over the background checks that Garcia had sent her while they were eating lunch and was unsurprised to find that Hotch had indeed picked the best possible school for Jack to attend. Amanda would start first grade there in a little over a week.

Once she returned from her errands run, the rest of the day passed quickly and by the time Amanda won their third game of Connect Four, it was already time for 'the little angel' to head to bed. She was contemplating calling it a day herself when she heard the ominous ringing of Beethoven's 5th from where she'd left her cellphone in the living room.

After everything had settled down the night before, she'd called her mother and left a message with Adam, the assistant, to let her know what was going on. It seems her mother had finally found the time to return the call 24 hours after the fact. The truth was, she didn't even have the amount of energy that conversations with her mother usually required, so she reluctantly picked up the phone and breathed a sigh of simultaneous relief and disappointment upon hearing Adam's voice on the other end, instead of her mother's. She had long since given up the thought that maybe someday her mother would take an active role in her life, but that didn't stop her from wishing that she'd want to be a part of Amanda's. She gave Adam a quick update and he assured her he'd have the ambassador call as soon as she could (both of them knowing the likelihood of that being any time soon was very slim), and promised to schedule time for her and Amanda the next time Elizabeth was in town on business.

She hung up on Adam and was headed towards bed when her phone started ringing again. Throwing a longing glance towards her bedroom, she reluctantly answered the call.

"Prentiss speaking."

"Hey, Emily. It's me." Her reluctance immediately dissipated and was replaced with a warm, happy feeling to know that Aaron was calling her.

"Aaron! Hi! How are you?" She heard him chuckle on the other end and mentally berated herself for sounding like an overzealous teenager who had been waiting by the phone for her high school crush to call.

"I'm good. The case is going well so I'm hoping maybe we'll be back home by tomorrow night. We're back at the hotel now though, so I thought I'd call and see how Mandy's doing."

"She's doing great. She was a little sluggish earlier today, but she's alright and she's in bed now. So Garcia said you had a suspect?"

"Did she now? Hmm, I specifically recall telling her not to give you any details of the case." His words were those of a boss, but she could tell he was smiling by the tone of his voice. And of course he had to have known that Garcia would spill the beans as soon as she asked.

"Well, what can I say? It's not Garcia's fault she fell victim to my superior skills of persuasion. I once talked the ambassador to China into ditching his security detail so we could go get ice cream when I was 7. It took them nearly 40 minutes to find us by which time I'd already talked him into buying me a double scoop of mint chocolate chip."

Hotch's laughter was well worth her revealing that little story about herself, and she decided not to mention the harsh reprimand she got from her mother after pulling that little stunt.

"Well, speaking of ice cream, I thought maybe we could take the kids out for a cone on Sunday if we're back in town by then. I talked to Jessica a little bit ago and apparently Jack's been asking about Amanda since they left the hospital last night."

Emily couldn't help smile at the little boy's sweetness (while simultaneously trying to ignore the fact that her heart just skipped a beat at the thought of spending more time with Jack and Aaron.) "I think that sounds great. Give me a call when you get back and we'll work out the details."

Emily ended the call and went to bed with a smile on her face that night, seriously hoping that the team would catch the unsub before Sunday rolled around.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi guys/gals! This isn't the longest chapter, but I totally felt guilty for the way I've been neglecting this story lately, so anyways, here's the next part… :) **

By the time Saturday night rolled around, Emily dropped into bed completely exhausted but able to reflect with satisfaction on everything that had been accomplished that day. The morning had started early enough when Amanda woke up at 6 a.m. completely alert and energetic after having slept through most of the previous day and night. The Saturday morning pancake ritual went off without a hitch (not counting the part where half the chocolate chips spilled all over the table and floor when Amanda ripped open the bag), and Emily agreed to find a peanut butter pancake recipe to make the next time that they could continue the tradition.

While Amanda watched Saturday morning cartoons (another regular part of her Saturday mornings that was usually done with her father), Emily went to clear out the guest bedroom. She didn't have a lot in there – just a few things in the closet to remove and then the furniture, which she had arranged to have dropped off at a local Salvation Army by the professional movers she'd hired.

The movers arrived right on time at 10 o'clock and removed the bed and dresser from the spare bedroom and agreed to meet Emily and Amanda at the Davis' house after they dropped the furniture off. Thanks to JJ's supreme organization of everything that needed moved from the Davis' house, it didn't take long for the movers to load up the trunk and move the furniture, boxes, and suitcases to Emily's apartment, where it was all unloaded with efficiency and ease. To Emily's relief, Amanda seemed to take the moving of all her things and the leaving of her old home pretty well.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking and arranging everything in Amanda's new room and around the apartment until only one box was left: the framed pictures taken from the Davis' house. After dinner, Emily grabbed a hammer and nails and they headed back to Amanda's room. The only thing that had been hanging in the spare room was a large piece of abstract art taking up a good portion of one wall that an artist friend of hers from Russia had given her. She went to remove it, but Amanda insisted that she liked it and wanted it to stay, so she left it and began hanging the pictures on the other walls. Amanda would pick a picture out of the box and tell her where to hang it and would dutifully hand her one of the nails along with it. Sometimes she'd tell Emily a story about her life with her parents – sometimes relating to the pictures, sometimes not. Once they'd hung several pictures on the walls, and placed a recent one of Amanda with her parents on the nightstand by the bed, they moved to the hall. Emily rearranged some of her own pictures that were hanging to make room for Amanda's, and would explain the people or the place or the story behind the pictures to Amanda as she went. After the hall came the living room. There were only a few pictures left, so she hung them up and placed a couple on the mantel over the fireplace, but left a space in the very center. She planned to take a picture of her and Amanda soon so that she could have it framed and placed there as a mark of the beginning of their lives together. By the time she got Amanda into bed, and subsequently collapsed into her own around 9 o'clock, she felt like she had made significant progress in getting to know Amanda, as well as learning what her life had been like with her parents.

She had just drifted off to sleep when the loud ringing of her cellphone on her nightstand awoke her abruptly. Cursing the caller for waking her up, she reluctantly grabbed the phone and flipped it open, barking a clipped "Yes?" into the speaker.

"Uh, Emily?" The familiar voice questioned uncertainly.

"Oh, hey Hotch." She unsuccessfully tried to stifle a big yawn.

"Sorry, did I wake you up? You're normally a night owl on cases, so I just assumed you'd be up. I can call back in the morning."

"No, it's fine. You're right, I'm usually up pretty late, but I just laid down. We moved and unpacked all of Mandy's stuff today, so I'm pretty wiped out."

"You moved everything? I thought you were gonna wait til the guys could help us out? You didn't have to do everything by yourself, you know."

"It's no big deal. I knew you guys would be pretty tired from the case, so I just hired a couple of movers and they were in and out in a couple of hours. Most of the day was spent unpacking anyways."

"So Amanda's all set up in her new room then?"

"Yea, pretty much. I think we'll eventually have to repaint it though – the walls are a caramel brown color, so they kinda clash with her pink and purple My Little Pony bedspread."

She stifled another yawn as she listened to Hotch chuckling on the other end of the line.

"That's quite the mental image. Anyways, I was just calling to let you know that we caught the unsub, so we'll be leaving here tomorrow morning. Are you guys still up for doing ice cream tomorrow with me and Jack?"

Emily suddenly felt wide awake and just a little nervous at the prospect. "Uh yea, that'd be great. What time do you wanna meet?"

"I thought maybe we could pick you up at two and we could get ice cream and maybe take the kids to a park. What do you think?"

"Sounds good to me. So I'll see you at two?"

"Yep. Sweet dreams, Emily."

"Thanks, Aaron. G'night."

After she hung up the phone, she laid in bed replaying in her mind the way he had said 'sweet dreams' in that soft, gentle voice that sounded like it was only meant for her. She couldn't help smiling a little at the thought of spending tomorrow with him and cursed the butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach. Instead of feeling exhausted, she now felt energetic and excited for the next day to start.


	19. Chapter 19

As Hotch drove over to Emily's apartment, tuning out Jack's loud voice singing along to the parts of the songs he knew on the radio, he couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to the night before. Just after he'd ended the call to Emily, Dave had come knocking on his door, and once opened, he'd barged through it without preamble or invitation. It hadn't taken him long to get to the point of his visit – he wanted to bring up the topic of Hotch's (alleged) feelings for Emily again. Trying to forestall yet another one of Dave's prying interrogations into his personal life, he attempted his usual distractions and deflections, but apparently his former mentor had made up his mind that they were going to have this talk whether Hotch wanted to or not. So the following half hour was spent listening to a lecture on how he needed to go after what he wanted and how he shouldn't let anything stand in his way, but most of all how he needed to make up his mind one way or the other and stop jerking Emily around since she's at a particularly tumultuous point in her life right now considering everything that had happened in the last week. He wasn't particularly fond of being bossed around by the FBI's former lothario and informed him thusly, but after exorcizing his inner petulant child, he had to admit – at least to himself – that he wasn't being fair to Emily if he didn't make his intentions clear – which he could only do once he actually figured out for himself what his intentions were.

So after he'd kicked Dave out of his room, he'd spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to figure out if he was really prepared to take that next step with Emily, and what he should do if he wasn't. Granted, she had already agreed to an ice cream trip with him and the kids, as well as an ambiguous dinner date/non-date to talk about her sister. But they had never really talked about the recent development and progress of their relationship into a close friendship. And they had definitely never talked about taking that friendship in a romantic direction. He couldn't even be sure that she would be interested in a relationship like that – what did he have to offer, after all? He was a single dad with a broken heart who was still getting over the death of his ex-wife. How could he expect her to want anything more than friendship from him? …And yet, there were times when he could swear that he wasn't the only one feeling this way. Sometimes he would catch her watching him when she thought he wasn't looking (and maybe even checking him out a few times!), so maybe the idea of them as a couple wasn't as farfetched as it sounded in his own mind. At any rate, he needed to either make up his mind to tell her how he was feeling and ask her out on a real date, or back off a bit on their friendship until he'd given himself a chance to get over her. If he picked the first option, it'd be a big risk, and could result in a lot of happiness for both of them, as well as the kids, but if she didn't feel the same way... well, he didn't really want to think too much about that possibility. If he picked the second option, it would probably be painful for him and awkward for both of them at first, but in the long run wouldn't he be saving them both a lot of potential pain and maybe even the loss of their friendship? These were the thoughts that had plagued him all through the previous night and following morning, and even as he pulled his car into a parking space in front of her building right at 2 p.m.

He picked up his cell and sent her a quick text to let her know he was out front with Jack and waited for her to emerge from the building. When she finally came out, booster seat in one hand and Amanda's hand in her other, he felt the air rush out of his lungs at the sight of her. In his opinion, Emily looked good in anything and everything, but it was a well-known fact that red is definitely her color. He didn't recognize the dark red, V-neck blouse that she was wearing, so he figured it must be new. Is it weird that he knows her wardrobe? By the time he managed to direct his thoughts away from the way the new shirt hugged her curves, she was already approaching the SUV, so he hurriedly hopped out so he could help her with the booster seat.

"Aaron!" He only had a moment's notice to prepare for the little girl that launched herself at him, but he caught her with practiced ease and swung her up into the air, much to her squealing delight. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before setting her back down on the ground.

"Hi Mandy! I see you're feeling a lot better since the last time I saw you." Mandy immediately launched into a long-winded tail of everything that had happened since the last time she had seen him – apparently a lot can happen for a six year old in a span of two days. His ears were trained on listening to her, but his eyes were busy seeking out another set of eyes – the ones that could make his heart beat like he'd just run a marathon – which is exactly what it did, when he found her watching him with a smile from where she stood by the front of the car. Man, did he have it bad. Even if he wasn't sure he could tell her that, there was no way he could keep denying it to himself. Damn Rossi for bringing this all to the forefront! He could've gone on happily for a long while just enjoying the time he got to spend with her without feeling like he had suddenly reverted to an anxious, love-sick teenager.

Quickly shoving those thoughts aside to worry about later, he took the booster seat from her and secured it in the back seat, and then buckled Amanda into it. He climbed back into the driver's seat and was immediately accosted by the smell of Emily's peach scented perfume. His mind went into a bit of overdrive and he found himself suddenly wondering if her hair smelled the same way or if her lips would taste sweet like a peach if (when?) he kissed her. It took a lot of willpower not to lean over and find out, so to distract himself from that instead, he smiled at her and asked how her day had been so far.

The drive to Baskin-Robbins went quickly, and after ordering four cones – vanilla for himself, chocolate for both kids, and strawberry for Emily – they headed to a nearby park that had a jungle gym and swings for the kids to play on. By the time they parked, Emily was the only one who hadn't finished her ice cream yet. As they settled onto a bench to watch the kids swing, Hotch couldn't help but chuckle at the way she seemed to be savoring every last bit of the pink colored dessert.

She shot him a mock stern look. "What? I like to take my time and enjoy it to its fullest."

"I noticed." He replied, unable to hide his grin.

"You know, as a kid, some of my favorite memories are of my dad taking me and a couple of my friends to one of the local ice cream joints in whatever country we happened to be living in at the time. Sometimes they'd have this contest to see who could eat their ice cream the fastest and my dad would always win, but every single one of them would get an ice cream headache. I much prefer to enjoy my ice cream slowly, but it was funny to watch when they were all bent over with their heads in their hands, complaining of the pain – self-inflicted pain, I might point out."

Hotch chuckled at her story. "I do believe I'm beginning to see a pattern in your childhood. It's good to know that this ice cream obsession has a well-documented history."

"Well, how about I'll let you in on a little secret. You know how they say 'diamonds are a girl's best friend?"

He nodded. "Yea?"

She leaned in to whisper to him conspiratorially. "Well, they're wrong. A girl's best friends are two guys named Ben & Jerry." She left him laughing on the bench to walk over to the swings, which the kids had just vacated in favor of the jungle gym. She took a seat on a swing and glanced over her shoulder to see that he was following her over. As he passed her by on the way to the swing next to her, she felt his fingers brush lightly across the middle of her back and immediately felt goose bumps rise on her arms. Avoiding the temptation of looking over at him, she set her swing in motion and quickly had a good height. Not to be outdone, Hotch caught up with her swiftly and soon they were both swinging pretty high. Emily glanced over at Hotch and raised a challenging eyebrow at him. "Jump?"

He looked a little undecided at first, but his competitive nature took over and he nodded his assent. As they both reached the pinnacle of their swing, they flung themselves off and flew to the ground several feet away with Hotch ending up just a hair farther out than Emily. He groaned and rolled over onto his back to find Emily was still lying on her stomach and having a fit of the giggles.

"I haven't done that in like 20 years!" She gasped.

"Ugh. I feel like I just tackled an unsub." That sent her into another round of giggling – a sound which he quickly decided he liked very much and wanted to hear more often. She rolled over onto her back as well and found herself shoulder to shoulder with Hotch. They lay there in silence for a moment, just looking up at the sky and both enjoying the contact between them, even if it was by accident. He felt her start to pull away and took hold of her hand to get her to stay there with him, beside him. It worked and she stilled beside him before glancing over at him with eyes full of questions he wasn't sure how to answer. He rubbed his thumb back and forth over the top of her hand, wordlessly asking her to stay there with him in the moment. She answered with a small smile and something seemed to pass between them – an acknowledgement of sorts that they both felt that there was something going on between them, something they needed to talk about, and each one secretly hoping it was something that they could explore together.

"Emily–" Hotch was trying to figure out just what he should say, when he was interrupted by the sight of two small heads looming over them and looking down at them.

"Daddy, what are you and Emily doing lying on the ground?"

Emily laughed at the way Hotch looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but felt bad and decided to cover for him. "We're looking up at the clouds. See that one – it kinda looks like a spaceship," she said, pointing out one of the white masses above them.

"Ooh, I wanna look up at the clouds too!" Mandy exclaimed, and most of the next two hours was spent with the four of them lying side by side on the ground, pointing out different clouds to each other. The children dominated the conversation, as children often tend to do when they're together, and she tried not to feel like her special moment with Hotch had been cut short, because she was enjoying the time spent together as the four of them. But there was a lot left unsaid and there was no way they could continue (or rather, _start_) the conversation between them when there were young ears within hearing distance. So she was rather disappointed when they'd decided it was time to get up and leave the park for the day, until Hotch invited her and Amanda over for dinner at his place. Eager to spend more time with him, and maybe even start that conversation that seemed to be lingering in the air between them, she readily agreed.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi guys! My continued thanks to those who have been leaving reviews – they're very appreciated and help to keep me motivated to continue writing this story! Hope you enjoy this next part, I know some of you have been waiting for it… :) **

On the way to Hotch's apartment, Emily couldn't help but wonder if she was setting herself up for disaster. Together, in the park, she had felt so sure that there was something between them, and at the time, she'd felt just as certain that she wanted to pursue it. But now that there seemed to be a good possibility of that actually happening, she wasn't so sure anymore. What was she setting herself up for, setting _them _up for, if they pursued this? Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe she should just completely avoid the conversation at all costs tonight. The last time – or well, the last thousand times, it seemed – that she opened herself up to a guy, she'd ended up getting hurt. And she was so tired of being hurt and even more tired of having to pick up the pieces of her life all over again, ending up alone at the end of it all. And somewhere along the way she had started figuring out that it must be something wrong with her, right? Because how else do you explain all the crappy relationships that she'd gotten herself into with crappy men over the years? What was it about her that just seemed to attract the creeps? But Aaron wasn't a creep – far from it actually. But could she really trust herself to get into a relationship with him without screwing it up? Without hurting him and herself in the process?

Aaron watched out of the corner of his eye as Emily seemed to get tenser and tenser on the ride to his place. Everything seemed to be going so well in the park, so what could be going on in her mind right now? He knew she had a tendency to overanalyze absolutely everything – that's just the way she functioned – but he had honestly thought they had started making some sort of real progress in their relationship today. Now that he knew what he wanted – _her,_ to be exact, _he wanted her_ – he could only hope that she wanted the same thing and try to convince her that it was a good idea. But that would have to wait until later, until the opportunity arose for them to talk alone.

He just didn't expect how quickly that opportunity would arise. Once they arrived at his place, the kids had taken off to Jack's room to play with his cars and Emily followed him to the kitchen in silence. And he still hadn't figured out just what to say or how to say it to her.

He moved over to the counter to check on the pot roast in the slow cooker that he had set to cook that morning, and she moved close beside him to inhale the rich scent wafting up from the cooker, before turning to look at him with a slight grin on her face. "You can cook?" She asked incredulously.

"I know my way around the kitchen." He replied nonchalantly.

"I'm impressed. I had no idea that your skills extended beyond the firing range." She teased him. He didn't reply, but shot her a dimpled smile and rolled his eyes, just relieved to see that some of the tension she had shown in the car seemed to be slipping away. "So what can I help with?" she inquired.

"Well, I thought we could have a salad with dinner, so you can help me chop the vegetables if you want." He pulled open a few drawers and grabbed out two knives and cutting boards for them and then pulled the vegetables out of the fridge. They worked together side by side in a comfortable silence, while Hotch racked his brain for a way to start the conversation that had gotten stopped in the park before it really even started. It didn't help that his mind was being completely muddled by the intoxicating smell of her perfume. Standing that close to her, in his own kitchen with the kids obliviously occupied down the hall, it was hard to keep his hands to himself. He wanted to just grab her and kiss her, and the only thing stopping him from doing exactly that was the fact that he didn't know how she would respond – and well, hey, she was holding a sharp knife after all!

He chanced a glance over at her and caught her looking up at him, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth in a way he'd been distracted by a thousand times over at the office when he caught her thinking hard about something. He usually found it endearing and cute, but right then, with the way she was looking up at him like she was contemplating something – contemplating _him_ to be exact – well, it was sexy as all get out. They turned to face each other, and she laid her knife down on the counter, which he mimicked without even thinking about it.

Before he even had time to process it, she breached the small gap between them and, bringing her hands up to wrap around his neck, she leaned up and brushed her lips lightly against his. Once, twice, three times – at which point his mind finally kicked into gear and he realized he was being kissed by Emily and just standing there like an idiot. Growing impatient with these teasing kisses that only left him wanting more, he wrapped his hands around her waist and gently but firmly pushed her up against the counter and deepened the kiss. It was pure bliss kissing Emily, like an intoxicating drug that he was addicted to from that very first taste and he knew he'd never get enough of it, enough of her. When her tongue slipped between his lips to caress his own, he couldn't help but release a groan at just how good it felt. Was there anything better than being pressed up against Emily, kissing her passionately in his kitchen? Well, yes, there were quite a few things he could think of that would probably be even better, but that would be moving a bit fast… right?

When they finally broke apart – due to a lack of oxygen, not because either of them wanted to – he leaned his forehead against hers, listening to the way they were both panting for breath in the silence.

"Emily."

The way he said her name, the sound of his deep, husky voice, was like lighting a flame to the desire that already stirred within her. How could she ever think about walking away from this? Especially now that she knew exactly what she'd be missing out on? One kiss was really all it took to make up her mind. She had been standing there, chopping vegetables at his side, and the whole thing had felt so domestic, so normal, so right. And she couldn't ignore his strong, masculine presence beside her or the way she could feel his body heat practically enveloping her from their close proximity. So somewhere along the way she'd stopped chopping up vegetables to look up at him and he'd caught her staring, and she'd just given into the overwhelming urge to kiss him. And god, it had been everything she'd wanted it to be, everything she'd imagined it would be (and boy, had she imagined!).

Realizing she hadn't responded when he said her name, she opened her eyes and pulled away just a little so she could look up at him. He looked worried, like as if she was going to be mad at him for the kiss_ she'd started_, so she gave him a smile and immediately saw him relax.

"That was…" She really couldn't think of the right word to describe it. Perfect. Amazing. Like fire, it was so hot.

He grinned at her lack of words. "Yeah, it was," he agreed.

She bit her lip, staring up at him, and he moved one of his hands from her waist up to her cheek, caressing it, and used his thumb to pull the lip from between her teeth, smoothing his thumb over it. She let loose a little sigh and then leaned into him, resting her forehead against his strong, sturdy chest. He wrapped both his arms around her back, holding her to him tightly and she brought her arms down from around his neck, gliding over his strong, solid chest to wrap around his waist.

She took a deep breath and released it. "This is perfect. There's nowhere else I'd rather be right this moment."

He pressed a gentle kiss to her hair. "There's nowhere else I'd rather have you be."

They stood like that for what felt like a long while, until she pulled back from him a little and broke the silence, with her head down, not quite meeting his gaze.

"We should probably talk about this. About what it would mean for us, what it would involve."

He thought it endearing the way she seemed nervous saying that, as if he'd be upset by it. But not wanting her to worry, he put a finger under her chin and lifted it so she would look him right in the eyes. "We will, okay? Tonight, after the kids are asleep, we'll talk this all out, alright?"

She nodded and then leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, lingering for just a moment before pulling back. "I'll get the kids for dinner," she stated before moving out of his arms and out of the kitchen.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thank you to those who left reviews on the last chapter – I got the feeling that most readers were waiting for that kiss to happen. :) **

**Also, is everyone else having troubles getting their emails from FFN? I've been getting emails several days after when I'm supposed to get them, and it's really rather annoying.**

**Oh, and one last thing… Happy April Fool's Day! I figured it'd be a good omen for the rest of the month if I got a chapter posted on the first day of April. So here it is…**

Throughout dinner, cleanup, and then three games of Chutes & Ladders, Emily couldn't get her mind off of the kiss that she and Aaron had shared. All she wanted to do was pull him to herself and insist on a repeat performance. But the side of her not being controlled by her libido knew that they would need to have a serious discussion about where this was going – if anywhere – before it went any further.

They were just putting away the Chutes & Ladders board and getting ready to play Trouble when Emily's cellphone started playing that ominous classical piece that let her know her mother was calling. Leaving the other three to start the first round of Trouble, she headed to the kitchen so she could talk to her mother in private.

"Emily Prentiss speaking."

"Good evening, Emily. It's your mother."

Emily chuckled at her mother's formality. "Yea, mom, I know. What's up?"

"I had a free moment between a late luncheon with a few diplomats and a charity auction tonight, and Adam has been so gracious as to remind me about a hundred times that I need to call you back, so now I am. How's Amanda doing?"

Grateful that her mother couldn't see her rolling her eyes, she responded, "She's doing well. She was pretty tired most of Friday after we got home from the hospital, but she's been fine ever since. We got all of her things moved yesterday and Aaron's planning on taking care of the estate and everything, so now it's just a matter of getting her into a routine. I registered her at a really great private elementary school here and she starts first grade there in a week from tomorrow. So where are you now? Are you in town?"

"No, actually I'm in New York for a few days. But I have plans to be in town mid-week. I'll have Adam call you and set up dinner."

"Well, assuming I'm in town and not out on a case, that'd be fine. But even if I am, I think you should still take some time out to spend with Amanda. She needs to get to know you. We're the only family she has left now."

"Don't you think I know that?" Elizabeth replied with scarcely concealed displeasure.

"Do you? Because you haven't really acted like it yet. You left the courthouse without even saying goodbye, the moment I was given custody of her. If you want to be a part of her life, then you need to start making room for her in it."

"Emily, don't lecture me. I won't stand for it. And by the way, don't you think it's about time you transferred out of the BAU? You're Amanda's guardian now and if anyone needs to be worrying about making room for her in their life, it's you. That job is too dangerous, Emily."

_Here we go, again_, Emily couldn't help but think. "Mom, I'm not transferring out of the BAU. How many times do I have to tell you that? I love my job and there are plenty of others who do the same work and raise kids as well. It'll be an adjustment for the both of us, but I'm making it work."

"And who will watch Amanda when you're flying off all around the country for this job that you just have to have?" Elizabeth demanded.

"Her name's Jessica. She's Aaron's former sister-in-law. She was the one watching Amanda on Thursday when she had an allergic reaction."

"So she was the one who gave her bananas? Are you sure you can trust her? It sounds like you don't even really know her."

"Did you know Amanda was allergic to bananas? Because I didn't and it would've been nice to have a heads-up on that one! And yes, I absolutely trust Jessica. She made sure that Amanda got the help she needed right away. If she hadn't reacted quickly…" She really didn't want to finish that train of thought. "Anyways, Aaron trusts her to watch Jack all the time and I trust him, therefore I trust her. Besides, Amanda seemed to really like her and she likes spending time with Jack, too."

"No, I didn't know about the allergies – you should probably check into getting ahold of Amanda's medical files just in case there's something else we need to know about. But don't you think you're getting a little too close to that family, Emily? Are you sure it's wise?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Emily was barely keeping the indignation at being asked such a question out of her voice. What's it matter to her mother who she spends her time with, anyways?

"Well think about what it's going to look like if you're spending too much time with your boss, Emily. You know what people will say. If you want to further your career you need to be more careful about your reputation and the way you appear to others."

"The only reason you give a damn about how I appear to others at all is because you're worried about your own goddamn political agenda and how I reflect back on you! You know what? I don't need this! Call me when you decide to be supportive and start taking an interest in your granddaughter. Until then, just leave me alone!" Emily quickly hung up the phone, not giving her mother a chance to reply.

Tossing the phone down on the counter, she scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to rid herself of the anger her mother had stirred up in her so she could go back into the living room to join Aaron and the kids. But less than twenty seconds later, her phone started ringing again to let her know that her mother was calling her back. She hit the ignore button, way too pissed off at the moment to continue the conversation. Another minute later she heard her phone beep letting her know that she had a voicemail. Knowing it was a bad idea and she should wait to listen to it when she'd cooled off some, but unable to ignore the temptation, she picked up the phone and dialed her voicemail.

"Emily Prentiss! Don't you dare hang up on me ever again! I'm your mother and I deserve respect! And I won't stand for you using that vulgar language with me either. When you decide to grow up and act like a responsible adult, call my assistant and we'll set up dinner."

Emily erased the message and threw her phone onto the counter again. Suddenly wishing she had a punching bag in front of her, she started pacing the kitchen, trying to find an outlet for the anger she was feeling at that moment. There was no way she wanted Amanda or Jack to see her this worked up, so she knew she needed to get a handle on her emotions and compartmentalize it away like she always did. She was so caught up in pacing the kitchen, her head down, trying to figure out how her mother always had the ability to get under her skin so easily, that she didn't notice when Hotch walked into the kitchen until he stepped right in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders to stop her pacing.

Startled out of her thoughts, she looked up. "Hotch!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What happened to Aaron?"

As much as she was upset at that moment, she couldn't stop her lips from quirking up. "Sorry, old habits, y'know?"

"Are you alright? You've been in here for a while."

"Yea, I'm fine." Okay, maybe that wasn't entirely truthful, but Hotch didn't need to hear about her problems with her mother, right? "We should probably get back to the kids."

He eyed her, clearly not believing that she was fine. "Actually, it was getting kinda late for the kids to be up, so I put Jack to bed and Amanda's lying down in my room. I figured you'd wanna say good night before she falls asleep."

She glanced at the clock on the microwave – it was already going on nine o'clock. "Yea. I didn't realize it was getting so late. Let me just go and tell her good night, and then I'll meet you back in the living room."

She headed out of the kitchen and down the hall. Peeking into Jack's room as she passed it by, she saw that he was still awake. She stopped in the doorway for just a moment. "Night, buddy. Hope you have good dreams."

"Night Emily!" He answered back enthusiastically.

She headed to the end of the hall where she assumed Aaron's room would be and found Amanda already asleep under the covers. She gingerly took a seat on the king-size bed beside Amanda, being careful not to wake her up. There was something peaceful about watching a child sleep, and Emily felt herself gradually calming down after the conversation with her mother. She wasn't sure how long she sat there, gently brushing the girl's hair back from her face and watching her sleep, but it was a while later when she felt Aaron's presence at the door. Still, she didn't want to move and break the peaceful spell that had settled over her as she watched Amanda sleep.

Aaron watched for a moment from the doorway before quietly crossing the room to Emily. He took a seat behind her on the bed and began rubbing her shoulders, hoping to help her relieve some of the stress he knew she was feeling.

Drawing strength and reassurance from his presence and his firm touch, she couldn't help but lean into him, at which point he wrapped his arms around her middle and held her against him as she continued to watch Amanda sleep.

He pressed a kiss to her hair before whispering in her ear. "Kinda makes you wonder when was the last time you were able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat like they're able to. Makes me a little jealous." She looked back at him, giving him a small smile. "Why don't we move into the living room?" He suggested.

She nodded her agreement, and bent over to kiss Amanda on the forehead before getting up from the bed and following Aaron out the door.


	22. Chapter 22

As Emily followed Aaron down the hall, knowing the conversation that was awaiting them once they got to the living room, she felt the overwhelming need to have a moment to herself to think. She quickly slipped into the bathroom and shut the door before leaning against it to gather her bearings. Was her mother right? Was she spending too much time with Aaron and Jack? The new developments in their relationship had happened so quickly that she hadn't even had time to think about where this was going. She couldn't help wondering how she had suddenly become so comfortable with not just the emotional developments between her and Aaron, but also with the physical ones. It used to be that even a hug between them at the beginning of their friendship was awkward and infrequent. And always very short and light. But within the last week, and especially today, she found herself not only comfortable with the physical contact between them, but actually craving it and seeking it out.

As much as she hated the thought, maybe her mother was right. How smart is it to get involved with someone you work with? Especially when that someone is a superior? Did she need to be more careful about the amount of time she was spending with him?

Or maybe for once in her life she should just give into what she wants and see what happens? What if maybe this was her one shot at being really happy? What if it actually _did_ work out, rather than ending in disaster like all her other relationships? After everything she's seen in her life and especially at the BAU, is there enough innocence left in her to still believe in happy endings? And that she could have a happy ending of her own?

Wishing, not for the first time, that she could just shut off her brain and stop over-analyzing everything, she decided to just see where the conversation with Aaron would take her, and with a certain sense of faking a bravado that she didn't really feel, she stepped out of the bathroom and headed for the living room.

Aaron was already sitting one end of the couch, waiting for her, and as much as she hated herself for doing it, she took a seat at the other end, knowing that it would be harder to keep a level head and clear judgment if she was too close to him. He tried to quickly hide his disappointment that she chose not to sit beside him, but she saw it flicker over his face anyways.

A heavy silence settled over the room, neither one of them knowing how to jump into the conversation that they knew they had to have. They were facing each other on the couch, but each one was doing their best to avoid the other's gaze, studiously glancing about the room instead, as if the answers to their questions were written on the walls.

Aaron was the first to break the silence. "So… nice ringtone."

She glanced at him to find that he was looking back at her. "I only use Beethoven's 5th for my mother. Considering the conversation we just had, I think the dramaticness of it is perfectly suitable."

"Is 'dramaticness' even a word?" He asked her with a wry grin.

"Probably not."

"Somebody call the press – apparently Yale isn't all it's cracked up to be." He teased her.

She rolled her eyes and humored him with a smile, just grateful that the tension in the room seemed to have lessened just the slightest bit.

"So the conversation with your mother – it was pretty bad, huh?"

She shrugged and nodded. "Just the usual – she's trying to control every aspect of my life – especially if she thinks it could have some effect on her political agenda. I'm still upset with her for ignoring Amanda, even after everything that's happened, but now I also feel guilty because we got into an argument and I hung up on her. But I'm just tired of it, y'know?" She shot him a look that was silently begging him to understand, wondering if he knew just how confused she felt about everything in her life right at that moment.

He didn't say anything, just waited patiently, knowing that there was more she needed to say. "I'm just so tired of not feeling like my life is my own to do with it as I please, to live it how I see best. For once I'd like to go after what I want without having to wonder what my mother would think, or what people at work would say. And now that I have Amanda, I feel like I have even less right to my own life. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would make any sacrifice needed to ensure that she's safe, and happy, and has a stable home, but does that mean I can't have the job that I feel called to? Or can't date the person I want to? I feel like for most of my life I've been living by someone else's rules or for someone else's benefit. Going after the BAU was really the first thing in my life that I did _for me_. It was the first thing that I _really really_ wanted for myself and so I went for it. And it wasn't easy…" At this she shot him a look, which he returned with a sheepish smile, knowing that that was partly his fault. "…but I got it. I got the job I'd always wanted. And now I'm being told that I should give it up. That it's not fair to Amanda for me to keep the job I want. And even if I keep the job I want, _that_ might mean I can't have the _relationship_ I want, the _guy_ I want…" Emily stopped talking, realizing that she had just bared herself to that very same man, and feeling like she had just taken a dive over a ledge without a parachute, and without even knowing what awaited her below. She couldn't bring herself to meet Aaron's eyes, too afraid of what she would see in them – or maybe of what she wouldn't see. Instead she just kept her head down and picked at her nails, wordlessly begging him to fill the silence.

It wasn't long before she felt him scoot over next to her, and he took her hands in his, stopping her nervous fidgeting, before lifting a hand to her chin. "Hey, look at me," he quietly requested, lifting her chin up. When she finally acquiesced, he could see all the worry and fear that she was feeling, reflected in her eyes. He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her tenderly, his hand moving to cup the back of her head, as he put as much affection into the action as he could express. When he pulled back, he waited for her to open her eyes, anxious to see if she had understood all that he was trying to convey. When she finally looked at him, the fear in her eyes seemed to have dissipated a little and hope had taken its place.

When he spoke, the words came haltingly. But he held her hands firmly in his as he looked at her, trying to express how much he meant what he was going to say. "I want… I want for us to work. For us to be together. I know that there's probably a hundred reasons why we shouldn't try for this… the kids… our jobs… our past relationships… but I want this chance to be happy… with you. I think we have a shot at something really great here. It probably won't be easy considering our jobs – and I'm not perfect, you've already seen how I can be and I can't promise to be any better in a relationship… and it'd be a lie to say that I'm completely over everything that happened with Hailey. But I care about you a lot and I think we could be really great together. I _want_ us to be really great together." Now it was Aaron's turn to avoid looking Emily in the eyes, feeling like he had just bared his soul. He had put himself out there in a way that he hadn't done with anyone since the early years of his relationship with Hailey. And all he could do was hope that Emily would feel the same way – would be willing to take that risky shot at being happy with him.

Not hearing her reply right away as he'd hoped, he took a chance and glanced at her face. He had the briefest moment to register that her eyes were filled with unshed tears before she threw herself at him, kissing him fervently with all the passion she felt for him. He pulled her into his lap so she was straddling him as he kissed her back, holding her against him with a hand on her back and the other in her hair, unwilling to part from her until he absolutely couldn't go without a breath any longer.

When she finally pulled back from him, her lungs burning from the lack of oxygen, she nestled her head into his neck, dropping a light kiss there and enjoying the feeling of his arms still wrapped around her as they regained their breath. As she sat there in his lap, her hands on his shoulders, it seemed too good to be true that he would care for her the same way she cared for him. And even more so that he was willing to take a risk on a relationship between them.

"So should I take that to mean you want us to be together too?" He questioned, only half-jokingly.

She pulled back so she could look him in the eyes, before nodding and smiling.

"Good. How about I get us some wine to celebrate?" He offered. She nodded again, still smiling, and slid off his lap so he could head to the kitchen.

**A/N: The conversation isn't over…I just needed a good breaking point. :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**I feel like I should give a warning that this is a pretty dialogue-heavy chapter (until the end…which pushes the T rating just a bit). Also, I just wanted to express my appreciation for the people that are still sticking with me on this story. I appreciate the reviews – a lot – they help to keep me motivated. Anyways, onwards and upwards…**

When Aaron walked back into the living room with two glasses of red wine in his hand, he found Emily standing at the window with her back to him. He set the glasses down on the coffee table and walked over to her quietly, standing beside her and wondering if he now had the right to wrap his arms around her like he wanted to. It was hard to process going from denying himself the slightest touch so that he could keep things platonic between them to all of a sudden being allowed to hold her like he had wanted all along. For the moment, he settled for gently tucking her hair back behind her ear so he could see her face clearly.

"You look like you're worrying."

She sighed before pulling her eyes away from the window to look at him. "I guess I am. It's a habit; I can't shut it off."

He grinned a little at that. "I've noticed. So what are you worrying about?"

"Everything. This. Us. How this is going to work. If we're crazy to go for it."

He froze at her words. Was she saying she didn't want to do this? What happened to just a moment ago when she was all gung-ho for them to be together?

She noticed how he had tensed up and immediately figured she'd said the wrong thing. She took hold of one of his hands with her own, studying it like it had all the answers written on it before looking up at him. "Don't get me wrong, I want this. I really do. I care about you so much Aaron. I think I've cared about you for longer than I even realized, and you've been amazingly supportive this past week when I really needed someone to lean on. But I can't ignore the concerns I have about us getting together, y'know?"

He nodded and led her back over to the couch to sit down. "So tell me what your concerns are."

She studied him quietly for a moment. Opening up to someone has never been easy for her and the last thing she wanted to do was scare him off by being too honest. "I'm worried that everything's going to go wrong. I mean, I've never really been good at this – at long term relationships. I seem to have this bad habit of falling for the wrong guy and it ending pretty badly. Not that I think you're the wrong guy. Actually, I think you might be the _right_ guy. But what if I'm wrong? If it's just me taking this chance, that's one thing. But I have to take into account that Amanda's relying on me to make the right decision now too. If this doesn't work out, she could get hurt. She really loves you and Jack – she was so excited about going to the park with you guys today. And if anything were to happen, well, I just don't want her to get hurt. And I know you must have the same worries about Jack. I don't wanna see any of us get hurt. And what about work? Do we tell people? Not tell people? Is one of us going to have to transfer? Do you think Strauss will fire us? Do you think my mother's right? Do I owe it to Amanda to transfer out of the BAU? I've never been great at this kind of thing and we're risking a lot. Are we crazy for giving into this and going for it?"

"That's an awful lot of worrying. But I think you're right – they're all valid concerns that we need to take into consideration. First things first, I don't think you should have to give up the BAU just because you're taking care of Amanda now. Granted, she may grow up in an atypical living situation, but 'normal' went out the window when her parents died. Plenty of people do this job and raise children at the same time. Obviously, it's not easy, but that doesn't mean it can't be done or shouldn't be done. You should do whatever feels right to you, not what looks right to everyone else. So if there comes a point where you don't think the BAU is right for you, then by all means you should leave. But if you still feel called to do this job then I think you should stay."

He paused to give her time to think about what he was saying, wondering just what she was making of it. She seemed to be lost in thought, processing his words as she absentmindedly ran a thumbnail back and forth over her bottom lip.

Eventually she came to herself and realized he was waiting for her to make some sort of reply to let him know what she was thinking or planning. But the truth is, she didn't really know. Was she being selfish keeping her job at the BAU? Even if she stuck with it, eventually her or Aaron would have to leave anyways if their relationship progressed, right? But that felt like she was putting the cart before the horse.

"I don't think this is a decision I can make right now. I think I'll just have to wait and see how well I can do this job and take care of Amanda at the same time. Once she gets into a routine and starts going to school and I'm back into the swing of things at the BAU, I'll have to reevaluate the situation. If I feel like I'm being negligent to one or the other at some point in the future, or no longer feel like I'm supposed to be at the BAU, then I can look into transferring at that point in time."

He nodded. "Sounds like a reasonable plan to me."

"So what about work? I honestly don't think I can keep a relationship between us from Pen and Jayje. They're like hound dogs. They can sniff romance from a mile away." She told him with a grin.

He chuckled. "Yea, Rossi's about the same. He's been harping on me to make a move for months now."

She looked a little shocked at that statement. "Really?" But then, she couldn't help teasing him a little. "So what took you so long then?"

He just shrugged and shot her a little smile. No way was he going to admit that Aaron Hotchner is a complete coward when it comes to asking women out. That's a secret he plans on taking to his grave.

"I think we'll have to let the team know, but maybe we can just wait a bit and see how this works out. If they figure it out on their own before we actually decide to tell them, then we can just admit it. That work for you?" He suggested.

"Okay. But what about Strauss? And do you think it's going to cause a problem for you to be objective when we're out in the field? You can't treat me differently or try to keep me from doing my job, even if it's dangerous, just because we're seeing each other." She knew that she was probably sounding obstinate at this point, but she had to be sure that they could really do this without jeopardizing themselves or the team if they were going to be together. And she had to know that he would trust her to do her job and take care of herself. Elsewise it would just be too much of a risk for them to date.

"It's not going to be a problem," he stated assuredly. But she shot him a skeptical look, so he knew he'd need to convince her. "Look, to be blunt I've had more than professional feelings for you for a long time. Which means for a long time I've had to fight my inclinations to protect you and had to learn to treat you just like everyone else on the team. I think I've gotten pretty good at separating professional Hotch from the Hotch that wants to kiss you and hold you and… well, a lot of other things."

His suggestive tone didn't escape Emily's notice, but 'playtime' would have to wait a bit longer. "So what about Strauss? I don't think this'd go over well with her. We'd probably both get fired. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but I just want to make sure we're both going into this with our eyes wide-open. No surprises, okay?"

He chuckled at her statement. "Hey not all surprises are bad. And we can't plan for every situation that could come up. I think we'll have to just deal with it as it comes, okay? We'll tell Strauss when we're ready to tell Strauss. Until then, we'll just keep it between us and the team." He leaned in towards her, pausing when his lips were just barely a breath away from hers. "Deal?"

He waited for her to whisper the word…"Deal."…before claiming her lips with his. It started soft and gentle, but quickly grew to heated and passionate. Her hands were already tangling in his hair, and he pulled her closer so he could feel their bodies pressed together again. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, mating it with hers in a way that left him hard down below. Yearning to feel more of her skin – to bask in this experience that he had only dreamed about for so long – he slipped his hands under her dark red shirt, letting them roam over her warm, smooth skin as he moved his lips to her neck to drop open-mouthed kisses there. His hands moved up to caress her breasts, pulling from her a guttural moan as she nudged his head back up so she could kiss him again, gently nibbling on his bottom lip in a teasing manner.

Emily wasn't sure how long they'd been making out on the couch before she finally forced herself to put an end to it. As much as they were enjoying themselves, it was all a little too much, too fast. She extricated herself from his lap, which she'd ended up in again somewhere along the way, and put a little bit of 'cool-down' space between them. It was good to know there was no lack of passion between them, but it was way too easy to lose track of time when they were doing that. She had a feeling she'd quickly become addicted to the taste and feel of Aaron if (when?) she gives herself over to him completely.

Aaron, on the other hand, was already admitting – at least to himself – that he was so far past addicted to the taste of Emily and the feeling of her pressed up against him. She was like a drug he couldn't get enough of. And when they pulled apart, he had a strong feeling he was going to need a cold shower before he could get any rest tonight considering the aroused state he was in.

Since he had picked her up that afternoon and both kids were asleep, he insisted that she lie down in his bed with Amanda and he would take the couch, because it didn't make much sense to wake the kids up and drive her home tonight. She put up a half-hearted fight, but he nudged her along to his bedroom and then dug out a t-shirt and pair of sweatpants of his for her to sleep in. Pulling her in for a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, he whispered her a good night and then headed back to the living room to sleep on a couch that was more likely to keep him up all night with pleasant memories of the past hour than it was to afford him any real rest. The glasses of wine were left forgotten on the coffee table.


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been traveling a bit and my muse apparently decided to take a vacation for a while. But anyways, I plan on having a few more chapters up over this coming week, so here's the next installment… :)**

Aaron didn't get much time to enjoy or think about his newly kindled relationship with Emily, since he was awoken from his night on the couch by a phone call from JJ at 6 a.m. the next morning. She informed him that the team would be headed to Kansas as soon as everyone could get to the jet and when he hung up the phone, he heard Emily's cell ringing down the hall less than a minute later.

It didn't take them long to gather the kids up, make a quick stop at Emily's house to grab go-bags for her and Amanda, and drop the kids off at Jessica's before heading to the jet. Emily wasn't sure whether it was the early morning tiredness or the fact that she and Amanda had had the chance to spend a little more time together, but she was just relieved when the little girl didn't put up any fight to her leaving on a case again. It seemed like a good omen, and she just hope that would mean the case would go well and be solved quickly.

By the time they arrived, everyone else had already boarded the jet, and even though no one said anything, it was fairly obvious to them that more than one team member was noting the fact that they had arrived together…again. Ignoring the looks, they quickly got settled in and the team started reviewing the case as the jet set its course for Wichita.

Three girls between the ages of 8 and 10 had gone missing over the past 5 weeks. All the girls were Caucasian, had dark brown hair, and had gone missing on a Saturday or Sunday from a public area, including a park, a gas station, and a mall. Garcia was already checking into their backgrounds to find a connection between them, but nothing had turned up yet. None of the girls knew each other, went to the same school, or lived in the same neighborhood. The body of the first girl was found in a ditch off the side of a little-used dirt road three weeks after she had gone missing. Two days after that the second girl had been taken and was yet to be found. Then two weeks later, just yesterday, the third girl had gone missing, at which point the LEOs decided it was time to call in the FBI.

After they landed and were met on the tarmac by the local police chief, Hotch divided the team up and assigned tasks for each pair to complete. He sent JJ and Reid to the police station so that JJ could get a handle on the press, since it was a highly publicized case – as most cases involving children usually were – and Reid would start the geographical profile based on where the girls were taken from and where the body of the first girl had been found. He sent Rossi and Morgan together to interview the families of the first two girls and then to check out the dump site of the first girl's body, while he and Emily would interview the family of the third girl taken the day before, and would then head over to talk to the medical examiner before they all met back up at the police station to discuss what they had found and put together a profile.

Emily headed for the SUV she and Hotch would share and shot him a quizzical glance before climbing into the passenger seat.

"What is it?" He questioned, catching her glance.

"You know you're going to have to be careful not to pair us up all the time now, right?"

"Can you blame me for wanting to spend more time with you?" He asked with a grin and a wink.

'_Aww! Okay, I can definitely get used to this sweet and sappy version of Aaron',_ she thought to herself while returning his grin. But she had to be firm on this point. "Be that as it may, it's a bit of a red flag to the team if we're constantly together, don't you think? And to be honest, I need to know that you're going to be able to trust me to do my job without feeling like you have to watch over and protect me, okay?"

He buckled his seatbelt and started the vehicle, wanting a moment to contemplate what she'd said before he responded. "Emily, you have to know that I trust you immensely. I trust you to do your job, I trust you to have my back, and most importantly for me, I trust you with Jack. I don't want you to ever doubt that I trust you, okay? But I guess I wasn't really thinking about the team when I paired us together – I like working with you, we mesh well together, both on and off the job – but I'll be more careful in the future, alright?"

Okay, now she really felt bad – he was being incredibly sweet, and she was being neurotic and a worrywart. "Sorry, I just worry. I can't help it – it's genetic." She shot him a wry grin. "And I know you trust me; I don't mean to doubt you. And I trust you too."

"Good." He gave her a small smile. "Now can we stop with this seriousness? We've already got enough of that coming up with this case."

"Okay, what do you want to talk about then?" She questioned.

"We could talk about how hot last night on the couch was?" He teased, wiggling his eyebrows at her as he put the car in gear and headed them in the right direction.

She gave him a light-hearted punch on the arm before playfully scolding him, "Way to keep things professional, _Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner._"

He grinned at her again. "Hey, I'm only human."

"Well, how about we discuss the kids instead? I really hope we're back before next Monday. I'd really hate to miss their first day of school. I definitely want to be there to take a picture of that."

The rest of the car ride and conversation went smoothly, and it didn't take them long to arrive at the Nichols' house, which was the home of the third girl abducted. Her parents, Linda and Mark, unfortunately seemed to be trapped inside their house by a horde of reporters outside their front door, which Prentiss and Hotch had to fight their way through, all the while constantly repeating "No comment" to the insistent group. Once inside, they quickly ascertained that the parents weren't going to be able to offer them much helpful information about the abduction, so once they had obtained details about their girl Rebecca's typical daily schedule and extra-curricular activities and taken a glance around the girl's bedroom, they left the house less than half an hour later after arriving and headed for the M.E.'s.


	25. Chapter 25

**Wow! Over 200 reviews! That's really exciting for me and I'm very grateful to those of you that continue to read and review! Perhaps some of the other lurkers out there would consider leaving a review… :) Anyways, this chapter is pretty case-heavy – just a heads up. **

"Will you have dinner with me the first free night after we get back home?" They had just left the Nichols' house when Aaron dropped that question on Emily unexpectedly.

She grinned at him and nodded her agreement. "Okay. What brought that on?"

He glanced over at her, one side of his mouth quirked up in a dimpled smile. "I just want to do this right." He reached over and squeezed her fingers briefly before returning his attention back to the road.

When they reached the medical examiner Dr. Miller's office, they were briefed on her findings concerning the first girl's body. The cause of death had been suffocation, and there had been no signs of physical or sexual abuse, except for the fact that there had been a long burn across the girl's left forearm that had started to heal and there were ligature marks on her wrists and ankles from being tied up. In addition, the girl's long brown hair had been cut into a short bob and glasses had been placed on her face even though she didn't normally wear glasses. Furthermore, the girl had been found in clothes different from the ones she was wearing when she went missing. The M.E. estimated that the girl had been dead a little less than 24 hours when her body was found.

Hotch and Emily took notes of the M.E.'s findings and then headed back to the police station to meet up with the team. But they'd barely made it a mile down the road when Morgan called Hotch's cellphone, which he put on speakerphone so Emily could hear as well.

"Morgan. Prentiss and I are headed to the station right now. What've you found?"

"We just got word that the second girl's body has just been found in a dumpster behind a restaurant on the outskirts of town. Rossi and I are headed there now. I'll text you the address so you can meet us there."

"We'll be there in ten."

Hotch ended the call and then dialed JJ's phone.

"Hey JJ. …. You've heard about the second girl being found? … Okay, I want you to prepare a press release as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the press will be having a field day with this. Tell Reid to stay at the station and add this new location into his geographical profile, alright?"

Once he ended the call with JJ, it took them only a few minutes to arrive and a few minutes more to make it through the throng of reporters, bystanders, and police officers. Morgan was already interviewing the witness – a busboy at the restaurant – who had found the body, and Rossi was standing by the dumpster, guarding the body until the M.E. arrived.

Emily walked over to him and glanced in, immediately regretting her decision and looking away. How could someone just toss a child in a dumpster like that? As if she were no better than the trash surrounding her? She decided to go help Morgan interview witnesses, rather than stick around waiting for the M.E.

Once Dr. Miller had arrived and they had removed the body from the dumpster, it didn't take long to find the similarities between the body of the first girl and this one. The second girl's hair had also been cut short, she was wearing glasses, and she had the same burn mark as the first girl on the same forearm. There were ligature marks around her wrists and ankles. The main difference was that the first girl had been missing for three weeks before she was found dead and this second girl had only been missing for two. They would have to wait on the M.E.'s report to know the official cause of death, as well as how long ago she died.

The team headed back to the police station to put together a profile that could be released to the local police force, as well as the media.

"Okay, what do we know?" Hotch gathered the group's attention, hoping for valuable insight from the other team members.

Emily was the first to speak up. "Well, the girls' hair has been cut short and they're wearing glasses they don't need. So we're probably looking for an unsub who's trying to replace someone he or she lost with these girls. As for the burn mark – that could be something the unsub is trying to replicate or it might be some kind of torture used to control them."

"So when the unsub decides the girl doesn't fit into who she's supposed to be replacing, she's killed, her body is dumped like trash on the side of the road or in a dumpster, and another girl is taken." Rossi surmised.

"But how does the unsub take these girls in broad daylight in public without anyone noticing?" JJ questioned.

"There are a lot of possibilities," Hotch answered her. "Some kind of ruse maybe? Or someone that seems trustworthy? It could be someone they know, or it could be someone that is generally perceived as trustworthy – like another child or a priest or police officer. The unsub might be a woman, since children generally perceive them as more trustworthy than men."

"Morgan, were you guys able to find any connection when you talked to the victims' families?"

"Not really, Hotch. They live in different neighborhoods, socialize in different circles, both girls take piano lessons, but from different teachers, they both played sports but at different schools. Maybe there's a connection between the parents that we weren't able to find, but between the girls themselves, there's nothing."

"Okay, Reid. Have you been able to come up with a geographic profile?"

"I've narrowed the area down to a 15 mile radius of where the unsub probably lives or works."

"15 miles, kid? That's not gonna help us much." Morgan protested.

"Well, without another dumpsite or abduction, it would be difficult to narrow it down any further without increasing the potential for errors."

"Alright," Hotch interrupted. "Let's get Garcia on the line."

"You've reached Penelope Garcia – Mistress of All Things Technological."

"Garcia, it's Hotch. Have you found any connections between the girls or their families yet?"

"Not yet, boss-man. My usual garden-shovel-level-of-digging hasn't turned anything up, so I'm bringing out the excavator to dig into their dirt."

Hotch chuckled at her metaphor, before stating his next request. "Alright, what about the security cameras at the mall and gas station?"

"The only camera at the gas station probably hasn't been updated since Richard Nixon was in office so I doubt it's captured anything other than gray fuzz for the past 10 years. I was just going over the feed from the mall when you called, so I'll send you that now."

"Alright. Can you run a search for me? Look for any records of brunette girls ages 8 to 10 that have either died or been removed from their home by social services in Wichita in the past 10 years. She probably wore glasses."

"Okay, anything else to help narrow it down?"

"Uh, she probably had short hair and she might have had a burn mark on her left forearm."

"Okay, I'll call you back when I've got something. I've sent you the mall video – it looks like Rebecca Nichols was approached by a man she knew while her mother was shopping for a tie-dye jacket. Apparently she didn't get the memo about those going out of style after the 1970s."

"Thanks Garcia."

"Your wish is my command, G-man! Garcia out."

They pulled up the video to watch and it definitely looked just as Garcia had described it. The girl evidently knew the man she was talking to and willingly followed him out of the line of the cameras in the direction of the doors. Unfortunately, the man was wearing a hat and a hooded sweatshirt, so the camera was unable to pick up a clear image of his face. Without anything further to go on, they were stuck for the moment.

"JJ, I want you to put out a press release with a general description of the man in the video and a picture of Rebecca Nichols. Maybe someone's seen something and they just don't know it. After that, why don't we all take a short lunch break since we've got the chance while we're waiting to hear back from Garcia?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Hey! I got some new reviewers the last chapter – thanks so much for taking the time! And thanks to those that have been faithfully reading along and reviewing – it's appreciated! FYI, I used 'XXX' to separate out different scenes since the team is split up and the scenes are happening at pretty much the same time - I hope that makes it non-confusing. **

Lunch was a quick affair – burgers at a local joint – that was interrupted halfway through by a call from Garcia.

"Garcia, what'd you find for me?" He put his phone on speaker so the rest of the team could hear as they sat around a table at the diner.

"Well, boss-man, my excavator dug up some pretty gnarly possibilities for you. After pilfering my way through the outdated records system of the local child protective services, I've narrowed it down to three families that just screamed 'unsub-in-the-making'. The first was the Barnett family. Charles and Leah Barnett had a nine year old daughter, Eva, who was removed from their home around a year ago after multiple teachers brought up suspicions of physical abuse. They've been attempting to win back custody of her, but as of 4 months ago a judge denied them custody again – which based on the pictures of the girl's injuries that I've seen, I'd say was a smart call. Anyways, the daughter Eva has short brown hair and wears glasses. The second family on my list is the James'. Eric and Trisha James also had a nine year old daughter, Tina, who died 3 months ago. She drowned in a pool while her mother was inside the house on the phone with the guy she was having an affair with while the father was at work. Tina had brown hair and glasses as well. The third possibility is the Cloak family. Janet Cloak is a single mother, with a grown son and a ten year old daughter, Angela, who was taken away from her 2 years ago when the daughter was found home alone in the middle of winter by a neighbor with no food or heat in the house. Janet Cloak was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer 6 months ago and apparently stopped trying to regain custody of her daughter after the diagnosis. The son is 21 years old and moved back in with his mother after she was diagnosed. Angela, the daughter, is also a brunette who wears glasses. I'm still looking for a connection between one of these families and the three girls that have gone missing, as well as running a search through their medical records to see if any of the girls had a burn mark on their forearms. But that's what I've unearthed so far."

"Thanks Garcia. You're the best."

"Nothing I don't know already, my fearless leader. The background info and addresses are on the way to your phones as we speak. I'll call you again when something else pops up." She disconnected the call, not waiting for a reply.

Hotch was immediately out of his chair, requesting the bill from the waitress. While he waited for her to bring it, he glanced around at his team. "Alright, we'll split up into groups of two, each pair taking one of the families to interview." He looked at Emily, immediately wanting to pair her with him, but knowing that he couldn't. This was his chance to prove to Emily that he really did trust her to do her job, as well as his opportunity to avoid more speculation from the team. "Reid, you and I will go to the Barnett's house, Morgan and Emily will head to the James', and Rossi, you and JJ can talk to Janet Cloak." The bill was quickly paid, the food left half-eaten, as they rushed off to three separate SUVs.

XXX

Janet Cloak's home address was just a few minutes away from the diner, so Rossi and JJ were the first to arrive at their destination. The door was answered by a pale, sickly-looking woman that warily invited them in once they'd shown her their badges. She informed them that her son was at work at a power plant just outside the city. While JJ accompanied her to the kitchen to make tea, Rossi took a quick look around the small single-story house. He found the daughter's room, looking as though it had stayed untouched for the last two years. But other than that, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary around. When Rossi rejoined JJ in the kitchen, it didn't take them long to figure out that neither the mother nor son were likely to be in on the abductions. The son had alibis for all three kidnappings – for the first two, he had been taking his mother to her chemo treatments on Saturdays. As for the most recent abduction the day before (a Sunday), he had been scheduled to work. Although they would have to confirm the alibis with the doctor's office and the power plant, it looked more like a hard-working family that was barely clinging to survival, rather than a couple of unsubs intent on replacing the girl they'd lost.

XXX

A quick 15 minutes after leaving, Hotch and Reid arrived at the Barnett's house. They parked on the street and headed for the front porch, but Hotch's phone started ringing before he made it very far. Garcia was calling him back already.

"Yeah, Hotch."

"Hotch! It's Garcia. I was digging into our suspects' backgrounds, and I found a connection between the three girls and Eric James. He used to be a substitute teacher for various districts around the city and I checked and he's subbed at each of the girls' schools. I also found the medical records for Tina James, their daughter who died 3 months ago. She had a burn mark on her arm that she got from an accident with a curling iron when she was 6 years old. Hotch, Eric James is definitely the slimy bastard abducting these girls!"

Hotch hung up the phone, not even replying to Garcia as his mind was already racing into panic mode. He had just sent Emily and Derek to an unsub's house! His stomach clenched in knots at the thought of Emily unknowingly entering a dangerous man's house. Ignoring Reid's questioning looks, he ran back to the SUV, calling Derek on his way.

XXX

They had just arrived at the James', when Derek's cellphone started ringing unbeknownst to Emily, who had already climbed out of the SUV and was headed for the house. She noticed that the garage to the right of the house was open, and headed in that direction instead, wondering if perhaps the owners were in there and not in the house. As she walked up the paved driveway, she called ahead of her.

"Hello? Is anyone home? I'm Supervisory Special Agent Prentiss from the FBI."

She barely had time to notice the simultaneous squeal of tires and Morgan yelling her name from behind her, because a few seconds later her body slammed over the trunk of the car as it backed into her and she flew to the pavement several yards away as the unsub took off with Rebecca Nichols in the backseat.


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey guys! So this update is kinda short, and I haven't really had the chance to go back and edit it much, but if I don't get it posted now, it won't be posted today at all so I'm posting it anyways. :) **

Hotch listened on the other end of the phone call as Morgan called for Prentiss, then yelled her name in panic and subsequently dropped the phone, effectively ending the call. He immediately dialed Emily's phone but the call went unanswered. He redialed Morgan's number but got a busy dial tone. Barely giving Reid enough time to hop in and shut the door, Hotch took off in a hurry, intent on getting to the James' as soon as possible and find out what was going on. The address was luckily less than 15 blocks away, but every minute that passed felt like an eternity as he raced to find out if Emily was okay.

When he finally pulled up outside the house, he immediately saw that Morgan was crouched down over Emily, who was lying prone on the pavement. He threw the SUV into park and then jumped out of the car and raced over to Emily's side.

"What happened?" he demanded from Morgan.

"The unsub backed his car into her and then took off. She's unconscious, man. I think her wrist might be broken, but I don't know if we should move her in case there's internal bleeding or something. I called EMS – they should be here any minute now. We need to get a bolo out on that car."

"Call it in, I'll stay here with her." Morgan stepped away to make the call and Reid, who had been standing by observing, took his place at Emily's side.

"I think we'd be okay to turn her over, maybe see if we could wake her up." Reid suggested. Hotch nodded, taking her gingerly by the shoulders to turn her over. She had a gash on her forehead from where she hit the pavement when she landed and her face seemed paler than usual to his gaze.

"Emily, sweetheart, I need you to wake up for me." He murmured, stroking a thumb over her cheek, trying to get her to open her eyes, while his other hand gently cradled the back of her head. He didn't notice, let alone cared, that he'd just outed his and Emily's newly formed relationship to Reid. He couldn't think beyond making sure that Emily was okay as he frantically glanced around, looking for the ambulance whose siren announced its approach eternities before it actually showed up. When it finally did show, he reluctantly relinquished his place at her side so that the EMTs could get to work. They swiftly moved her onto a stretcher before placing her in the back of the ambulance, which Hotch jumped into uninvited, but not before yelling at Reid to call in extra forces to sweep the house.

Emily had started to regain consciousness as they arrived at the nearby hospital less than five minutes later, but they swept her away from him and suddenly he found himself standing outside the emergency exit, his mouth clamped tight shut as he tried to maintain control of his stomach. He hadn't expected to experience such a visceral reaction to Emily being hurt, but he was afraid of losing her after only having just really got her the day before.

Once he was sure he wouldn't lose the contents of his stomach, he headed inside to fill out the necessary paperwork and then to wait for news in the aptly named waiting room. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long and immediately stopped his pacing as he saw the doctor approaching.

"Are you here for Agent Prentiss?" The doctor inquired. Hotch gave a brief nod of his head and the doctor continued. "Emily's left wrist was broken from the angle that she fell on it and she's suffered a fairly severe concussion, but luckily there are no signs of internal bleeding or other injuries. She'll need to rest and be monitored over the next few days though."

"Is she awake?" Hotch asked, relieved that her injuries hadn't been more severe but still feeling quite anxious about the ones she did receive.

"She is. Right now she's having a cast put on her arm, which can be removed in 6 weeks, but when she's moved to a room I'll have the nurse inform you."

Hotch nodded and thanked the doctor, before stepping outside to call his team.

When he called Morgan, he was immediately bombarded with questions about Emily, and had the a suspicion that he wasn't the only one feeling horrible and guilty about Emily getting hurt. He passed on the information the doctor had given him before inquiring after the situation at the James' residence.

Morgan informed him that when they swept the house, they had found a middle-aged bed-ridden woman in the master bedroom – the wife of the unsub, Trisha James. Apparently she had suffered some sort of nervous breakdown after the loss of her daughter, and was continuously asking the officers where Tina was and talking about Tina as though she were still alive. When they searched Tina's old room, they found the clothes from the three girls that had been abducted, and realized that the unsub had probably insisted on them wearing Tina's old clothes as part of his deranged belief that each girl was actually Tina. As for the bolo on his car, nothing had turned up yet, but Garcia was currently checking to see if Eric James owned any other property where he might be likely to take Rebecca Nichols.

He promised to keep the team updated on Emily's situation before ending the call to head inside and see if Emily had been moved to a private room yet. He tracked down a nurse and was informed that she had been placed in a room on the third floor and had been asking for him. Not having the patience to wait for the elevator, he quickly sprinted up the steps and to her room, anxious to see her.


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey there! This one's another chapter that's a bit shorter than usual, but it felt like a good stopping point (plus it's late & I need to get to bed!). Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter – sadly I have to admit that I'm really horrible about replying to reviews, but I really do appreciate them very much. They keep me happy and motivated!**

**Also, one other thing... I've been debating about whether or not I should include an M rated chapter when it gets to that point in their relationship in this story, but I'm undecided. It's not something I have any experience in writing, so I'm not sure how well it'd turn out, and I'm not sure how readers would respond to it, since this is a T rated story. So basically, I'd like to get the opinion of the readers...so if you could leave a review and mention your thoughts on the matter, I'd appreciate the input. :)**

When Aaron entered Emily's hospital room, he found her lying in bed with her eyes closed, though he suspected that she wasn't sleeping. He took the opportunity to rake his eyes over her body while she remained unaware of his presence for the moment. He took in the little bandage covering the gash on her forehead and the bit of blood that was still matted in the front of her hair from that gash, he grimaced as he noticed the bruising he could see that covered one shoulder – which he suspected also covered most of her torso after being hit by a car and then landing on hard pavement, and then his eyes alighted on the candy apple red cast covering her left forearm. All in all, he felt the sudden conflicting feelings to either wrap her in a bone crushing hug and refuse to let her go or to cradle her gently against him and hide her away from the world, because while it's probably outdated and cliché, he felt the need to protect her from harm so nothing like this could ever happen to her again.

But he knew Emily, and knew that she wouldn't appreciate that sentiment very much. After all, she had proven as much after the whole Colorado incident, when she had refused to let the team coddle her after she'd been severely beaten up by a fanatical unsub with a god-complex. It had taken everything he had in him that day not to run in and save her, and even more not to go knocking on her hotel room door that night and declare his feelings for her.

Clearing his mind of that awful day, he decided to take a different approach. He took a few quiet steps towards her bed.

"The color red suits you." He stated simply, eyes flickering back to the cast before focusing in on her face.

Her eyes flittered open at the sound of his voice. "Aaron." She glanced over at him, and tried to sit herself up too quickly – immediately feeling a bout of nausea and dizziness. She laid back and shut her eyes quickly to will the sensation away and then opened them again to see Aaron looking at her with worry and concern displayed openly over his features.

"I'm okay. Just a bit dizzy. Nauseous. And my head hurts. Well, really all of me hurts right now." She realized that instead of soothing his concerns, she was just making it worse. "No, really, I'm alright. Or well, I'll be alright. The doctor said I have a concussion, which I guess is true because when I move to quickly, I instantly regret it." Again, she wasn't making it any better. "Seriously Aaron, stop looking like someone kicked your puppy." She teased him a little, hoping he'd lighten up and realize that she was okay, she wasn't dying or anything, she just got a little beat up. She'd definitely experienced worse than this before.

He gave her a small, wry grin, knowing exactly what she was trying to do and then his face dropped back into seriousness and he gave a slight one-shouldered shrug. "I don't… I don't want to lose you."

"Hey," She pulled herself into a sitting position (slower this time) and reached out her hand to him. "Come here." She waited until he took her hand in his own and moved closer to the bed so she could reach him better, then slid her hand up to cup his cheek, making sure she had his full attention. "You're not going to lose me, okay? I'm not going anywhere," she stated firmly, knowing that he needed to believe it and that he needed to see that she believed it.

He searched her eyes for a long moment before finally nodding his head in acquiescence to her words. She watched as he accepted – at least for the moment – that she was there to stay in his life, and then watched as his eyes left hers and his whole demeanor seemed to change into one of shame and guilt and she felt him pulling away from her. "Hey, what's the matter?" She questioned, completely befuddled by the abrupt change in him, and pulling on his arm so that he couldn't move away from her.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault." He scrubbed a hand down his face, as he continued. "I shouldn't have sent you and Morgan to that house. And I shouldn't have split us up. If I had been there…" He trailed off.

"What? If you had been there, what?" She demanded, and he looked up at her abruptly, startled that she seemed angry. "What could you have done to stop me getting run over by an unsub? Did I miss the memo about you suddenly gaining Superman-like powers all of a sudden? Or maybe you've now got some psychic abilities the team doesn't know about? Seriously, Aaron, how could you have known about or stopped what happened?" She questioned, but he just stared at her. "I won't let you blame yourself. We're just not going down that road. I was doing my job just like everyone else, and it could've happened to any of us. And it would've happened whether or not you were there. So get over your hero complex. Got it?"

Whoa, that was totally not what he'd been expecting to hear. He'd expected that she'd blame him, that she'd be angry, and that maybe she'd even want to break up with him, but he hadn't expected her to call him out on his obsessive need to protect – whether it was her or anyone else on the team at the receiving end of it. (And yes, he acknowledges freely the fact that he can sometimes be obsessive about it, but that doesn't stop him, really.) He was stunned.

So he just nodded again. Really, what else could he do?


	29. Chapter 29

Later that evening, Emily signed herself out of the hospital against medical advice – insisting that she could lie down and do nothing in a hotel room just as easily as she could in a hospital room. Hotch had of course protested, but the nausea and dizziness had lessened significantly, so she shoved him out the door with a quick peck on the lips and ordered him to focus on finding the unsub and Rebecca Nichols, and not waste energy worrying about her.

JJ had arrived shortly before she checked out, at the request of Hotch who refused to leave Emily alone at the hotel even though she told him she planned on sleeping the whole time. So she obediently let herself be wheeled to the exit doors and then slowly climbed into the SUV that JJ had parked out front, grimacing at the pull on her bruised body. They made a quick stop at a pharmacy to fill Emily's prescription for painkillers, that she had no intention of actually taking, and then headed to the hotel. As much as she hated to admit it, even just the drive from the hospital to the pharmacy to the hotel room left her feeling exhausted and even more sore, so she only half-attempted a protest when JJ insisted on helping her get ready for bed.

Cringing at JJ's gasp when the blonde got a good look at her entire torso covered in bruises, she grabbed her shirt and tried to pull it on quickly but was hindered by the cast covering her left arm. _Talk about humble pie,_ Emily thought to herself as JJ had to help her get the shirt on.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Emily muttered. JJ didn't look like she believed her for a moment, but to Emily's relief, she didn't say anything in reply.

A little while later, after Emily had ordered JJ to go work on the case, much in the same way she had ordered Aaron out of her hospital room, she headed for a quick clean-up in the bathroom. She'd just finished washing as much of the matted blood out of her hair as she could with a washcloth, promising herself a long, hot shower the following morning, when her cellphone started ringing. She glanced at it to find Jessica's number on her caller ID.

"Hello?" She answered the phone as she headed for the bed, which JJ had kindly turned down the covers on before exiting the room.

"Emily?" She heard Amanda's little voice across the line.

"Mandy, hi sweetie, what's going on?"

"When are you coming back?" She questioned.

"Um, well, I don't really know. Hopefully sometime soon, okay?"

"Did you catch the bad guy yet?"

"Not yet, sweetie."

"Can we have pizza when you get back? With ham and pineapple?"

"Uh, yea, that'd be fine I guess. Mandy, honey, is everything okay? Does Jessica know you're calling me?"

"Yeah, she said I could. She's washing the dishes."

"Oh okay. Is there a reason you're calling me or did you just wanna talk for a bit?"

"I dunno."

Emily had a feeling there was something the girl wasn't saying, but thought maybe she needed time to work up to it. "Okay, well what did you do today?"

"Jessica showed Jack and me how to make puppets out of paper bags. Jack made a dog and I made a kitty and Jessica made a frog."

"Wow, it sounds like you had a lot of fun. You'll have to show me the kitty when I get home, okay?"

"Okay! Emily, can we get a cat?" _Aha!_ Emily thought, _finally we get to the reason she's calling._

"Well, sweetie, pets are a lot of responsibility, so that's something we'll have to talk about when I get back, okay?"

"But I'm responsible. I clean my room and help with the dishes and everything." Mandy insisted in a voice that Emily would categorize as a cross between a sulk and a whine.

"We'll talk about it when I get back, Amanda." Emily stated firmly, unwilling to have this discussion over the phone.

"Fine. Bye." Amanda pouted and hung up the phone, not waiting for a goodbye from Emily.

_Hmph. _ Emily rolled her eyes and tossed her phone onto the nightstand. To be honest, she wasn't in the mood and didn't have the energy to deal with Amanda's attitude at the moment. She switched off the bedside lamp and had just burrowed under the covers when she heard a knock at the door. Groaning in frustration because all she really wanted to do at the moment was go to sleep, she reluctantly climbed out from under the covers and headed for the door.

When she opened it, she found Hotch standing on the other side, holding a bag of greasy take-out. He held it up with a smile, saying "I got the usual." before moving past her into the room.

"Not hungry." She stated blandly, before closing the door and following him back over to her bed where he had taken a seat.

He nodded to her statement. "How are you feeling?"

"Eh. Better I guess. Tired though. I was just getting ready to lay down when Amanda called and then you knocked on the door."

The slight tone of reluctance when she mentioned Amanda's call had him curious – she was usually smiles and brightness any time she mentioned the girl. "What did Amanda want?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, silently pointing out the fact that he had just blatantly profiled her, before giving in. "She wants a cat. I told her we'd have to discuss it when I get home because pets are a lot of responsibility. She wasn't exactly thrilled with my answer."

Hotch nodded and offered up a quiet "hmm".

"What? What is it?" Emily asked since there was clearly something he wasn't saying.

"Well, Jenna – her mom – had a lot of allergies so they couldn't have any pets. I'd venture to guess that Amanda has been wanting a pet for a while now, but since she was probably told they couldn't have one before, maybe she's just getting used to the idea that now she could. Jack's recently taken to asking about getting a dog."

Emily contemplated this new piece of information about the sister she never knew. It was still weird to think that Aaron not only knew her but had a close friendship with her and her husband, while Emily wasn't even aware of her existence until it was too late.

Aaron noticed Emily's silence and the sad look that crossed her face, and wondered if he shouldn't have said anything – which is why he hesitated to say it in the first place. "Sorry. Does it bother you if I bring her up?"

She looked up at him, startled. "What? No. It doesn't bother me. I was just thinking that there's still so much I don't know about her. When we packed up the house, you agreed to tell me about her. I still want to know. I'm just sad, I guess, that I'll never get that chance to meet her, you know?"

He nodded. "Yea, I get that." He glanced over at her and noted that she really did look exhausted. "If you're not hungry, then why don't you just lie down and I'll tell you what I can about her until you fall asleep, okay?"

She agreed and slipped under the covers as he dropped the unwanted food onto the small round table occupying a corner of the hotel room. "Will you lie down with me?" She asked, her voice betraying her uncertainty in posing the question.

He smiled reassuringly at her. "Thought you'd never ask." He teased her, as he toed off his shoes and slid into the bed to lie beside her. He automatically reached for her, wanting to pull her closer, but stopped when he saw her cringe and pull away slightly.

"Sorry." She whispered apologetically to him. "I'm just too bruised. As much as I'd love to be in your arms right now, I'm just too sore at the moment."

Aaron could've kicked himself for not realizing that he'd have hurt her by pulling her to him, and then making her feel like she had to apologize for it. He mentally chastised himself for being an idiot. "Don't apologize. I just wasn't thinking."

She gave him a small smile and grabbed one of his hands, interlacing their fingers. It wasn't nearly as much as either of them wanted, but for now it would have to suffice.


	30. Chapter 30

**Sorry this is so long in coming. My muse and my motivation decided to go on vacation together without me. Anyways, on with the show…**

It didn't take long for Emily's exhaustion to set in and she fell asleep in the middle of Aaron's story about the first time he met Jenna when Steve had brought her to their law firm's annual Christmas party. As he watched her sleep, her body bathed in the moonlight that was streaming in through the window, he couldn't help feeling relieved knowing that she was safe. It was hard to believe so much had happened in 24 hours. Just last night they had been sitting on his couch, agreeing to give a relationship a chance, and now a day later he had come too close for comfort to losing her. And that prospect alone had him quivering in his boots. They may have only technically been together for a day, but his feelings for her had started a long time ago.

As he contemplated all of this, lying there beside her unable to fall asleep, the worry and fear started to dominate his thoughts. If he was already this attached to her now, how could he possibly survive it if something happened to her? He had barely survived Haley's death, and they had already been divorced for a while when that had happened. He didn't think he could make it through if anything happened to Emily too. She had told him at the hospital that she wasn't going anywhere, but hadn't he learned in the most painful way that that's not something she could control? It wasn't something he could control when he lost Haley and that loss of control had nearly torn him apart. If he lost Emily like he lost Haley, he feared the damage would be irreparable. He was fairly certain he couldn't survive a blow like that.

It was these thoughts that had him pulling away from Emily's sleeping form in the middle of the night. He slowly slid out of bed, needing to pace the room as he worked through his thoughts. Pacing had been a habit of his for years, and he always reverted to the comfort of that habit when his mind was going nonstop. He remembered it used to drive Haley insane when she'd wake up in the middle of the night to find him pacing their bedroom – usually after returning home from a particularly horrible case.

"Aaron?" A groggy, confused voice broke through his reverie and he realized that Emily had woken up. _Damn it,_ he thought. He really didn't mean to wake her up since he knew that she needed as much sleep as possible after the trauma her body had experienced. But now that she was awake, he felt compelled to tell her what he was thinking. And yet, at the same time, he worried that if he told her, he'd end up freaking her out and chasing her away.

Emily watched him debate silently with himself, and sat up in bed, now fully awake and aware that something was really bothering him. Knowing it wouldn't do any good to push, she waited patiently, just hoping that he'd trust her enough to share with her, instead of keeping it bottled up. It took a few minutes, but finally with his mind seemingly made up, he took a seat on the bed, facing her as he tried to figure out exactly what to say.

"You remember, at the hospital, what I told you?" He asked her hesitantly.

She searched his eyes, trying to figure out exactly what he was alluding to, until suddenly it hit her. He was still worried about losing her, even though she was perfectly fine, minus a few injuries that would heal soon enough. She nodded her head, whispering back the words to him that he'd told her earlier that day. "You don't want to lose me."

He nodded. "Emily, it's not just that I don't _want _to lose you, it's that I don't think I could _handle_ losing you. After everything that's happened, after I lost Haley, it was so hard just to get out of bed every day and pretend that everything was going to be okay, you know? And I honestly don't think I would have made it through all that if I didn't have your support through all of that. We weren't even together then and you still became this irreplaceable part of my life. But now, after today, the thought of losing you too –" His voice broke as the thought of her being gone from his life overwhelmed him, and he shut his eyes against the tears that had suddenly built up there. _Hotchner men don't cry,_ he reminded himself. _That_ had been a painful lesson he'd learned in his childhood at the hands of his father – or rather, at the _belt_ of his father. Once he'd regained his composure, effectively willing the tears away, he opened his eyes to find Emily's compassion-filled eyes staring back at him. He reached out, pulling her cast-less hand into his own, needing to feel her, needing her touch to reassure him that she was still there with him. He stared at their hands, combined together, waiting to hear what her response would be to his confession. Would she freak out? Would she break it off with him? Would he lose her already?

"Aaron." She stated firmly, but gently, pulling his attention back to her eyes. "Aaron, I know I told you in the hospital that I'm not going anywhere, but the truth is I can't really promise that." She immediately saw his face fall, and her stomach clenched at the sight. He turned his eyes away from her, but she continued on. "Let me explain. In this job, I can't promise not to get hurt. And I can't promise not to die. You and I both know that that's not something we always have control over. But I can promise you to always fight my hardest to stay alive and make it back to you. And I can promise you that I'll never just walk away from this relationship, from you. I'm in it too deep already. I could never just leave you. And I could never cheat on you. I hope you know that about me. I'm in this for the long run, so please don't doubt me when I tell you that I'll always fight my hardest to be with you and to stay with you. That's as much as a promise I can give you, so now you have to decide if that's enough for you."


	31. Chapter 31

**Hey guys! I didn't get as many reviews on the last chapter as I've been getting, so I'm wondering if everybody just hated it? Or maybe people are getting bored with the story? I hope not, but at any rate I've been thinking that there will probably only be a few more chapters left to this story. I'll most likely take them through their first date as well as the kids' first day of school before I end it. Also, I think I'll be doing an M-rated chapter, but it will be posted as a one-shot and will be like a sequel to this story, so whoever wants to read it can. **

Aaron reached out a hand, clasping her neck and pulling her forward into a fervent kiss filled with all the emotion he felt for her – the longing, the hunger, the affection, the concern, the curiosity, and even the fear of losing her. He let his lips and tongue rove over hers with heat and intensity, expressing everything that he didn't know how to put into words. Too afraid to put his hands on her body, for fear of hurting her, he instead slid them into her hair, delighting in the feel of the heat from her scalp and the silky threads entwined around his fingers, as he tasted her thoroughly. She let him dominate the kiss as he explored every crevice of her mouth, relishing the sensation and savoring the moment. As he finally eased the kiss into a slow, sensuous dance of their lips together, he pulled her bottom lip in between his own to suck on, teasing her a little before he backed off completely. He leaned his forehead against hers, enjoying the moment before opening his eyes to look into hers. "It's enough." He stated simply, his voice husky from arousal or emotion – she didn't know which.

She nodded her head, accepting the fact that for the time being Aaron was at peace with the issue. She wasn't naïve enough to think that one conversation could heal the wounds that the divorce from and subsequent death of Haley had caused, but for now it was enough. She scooted back into a lying position and pulled him down with her. Still keeping most of her very sore body away from his, she managed to lay her head on his shoulder and drift to sleep again. This time though, Aaron followed her shortly into oblivion.

XXX

A little past 6 a.m. the next day, they both awoke to the sound of his cellphone ringing. Garcia had discovered some old property belonging to the mother of the unsub that was not far from where the first girl had been dumped. Aaron ordered Emily to stay in the hotel room, to which she grumblingly agreed since the aching in her body only seemed to have increased over night, and then took off to quickly change his clothes in his own hotel room and wake the rest of the team.

He returned a half hour later to let her know the team was getting ready to leave the hotel. She'd only just made the effort to get out of bed and was wrapping her cast in the plastic bag that had held the fast food Aaron had brought the night before so she could take a shower without the cast getting wet. He offered to help her out of her shirt, knowing it might be difficult for her to get it off, but she refused, averting her eyes in embarrassment and something that looked too close to shame for his liking.

But after JJ's reaction from the night before, the last thing she wanted Aaron seeing was her ugly body covered in bruises.

Astutely picking up on her insecurities but considering her crazy for having them in the first place, he walked over to her and lifted her chin so she was forced to look at him. "You know I think you're beautiful, right? Even when you're beat up and looking very tired you're still one of the most gorgeous women I've ever met." He placed a quick kiss on her lips and tucked her hair behind her ear, ignoring the tears that his comment had brought to her eyes.

As he headed for the door, he promised to update her as soon as possible and then gave her another strict order to not leave the hotel. Then he was gone and she was left standing alone in the middle of the room.

XXX

Emily waited on pins and needles throughout the early morning to find out what was going on. She called Garcia every five minutes for an update until finally the blonde technician's patience wore thin and she hung up on Emily after promising to call as soon as she knew anything. Keeping her cellphone near her at all times, she figured she might as well get showered and dressed, instead of pacing the room while she waited. It was true that it turned out to be quite difficult to get her shirt off by herself, and at one point she considered just taking a pair of scissors to it, but eventually she got it off, and picked out a much easier short-sleeved button-up to wear that day.

Nearly three hours after the team had left, and two hours after she had finished showering and then had nothing to do but sit around and wait for a call, she finally heard her cell phone ringing.

"What's going on?" She answered the phone.

"Well hello to you too," she heard Hotch mock her teasingly.

His light tone helped to ease the knot that had been forming in her stomach. "Sorry, I'm just a little anxious for news. So what happened? Were they there? Did you find Rebecca and the unsub? Is everyone okay?" Wanting to know everything at once, the words came out in a rush.

"Everyone's okay, but yeah, they were there." Hotch confirmed. "There was an old abandoned warehouse on the land and he had the girl tied up in a corner. It was a pretty easy take-down – he gave himself up once he realized there was no way out. And the girl is okay. He burned her on the arm like the others and she has marks on her wrists and ankles from being tied up, but her parents are meeting her at the hospital and I think she'll be alright."

"Wow. Good." She stated plainly. It was weird to think it was over already and she hadn't been there to help with the take-down. In a way, she felt like she was missing the closure that catching the unsub usually gave her. The whole thing seemed anticlimactic to her after getting run over and not even getting the chance to be there when he was apprehended.

He noted her lack of passion over the news, but didn't comment on it, knowing full well that she hated being left behind – just like every other member of the team. They all liked to be in on the action, and when they weren't they quickly grew restless and frustrated. "We have to wrap things up here at the precinct, and JJ is delivering a final update to the media letting them know that we've caught the guy, but then we'll be back at the hotel. I figure we can all go to lunch before we get on the plane and head home. We should be back by 4 p.m. at the latest."

Emily perked up a little at this news, excited to go home and see Amanda. She'd only been gone two days, but it felt like longer and she'd really missed the girl who'd recently taken up such a significant portion of her life.

XXX

On the jet home, Aaron made sure he and Emily sat alone together so he could keep watch over her as well as talk to her without the team listening in. But he quickly realized that she seemed to be in no mood to talk, as her forehead was creased with worry and she was nervously picking at her nails. "What's on your mind?"

She knew that he had been watching her, but she was too worried about other things at the moment to be concerned with how she was appearing to Hotch. "I don't know how I'm going to tell Amanda about all of this. She'll undoubtedly ask about the bruises and the cast and the cut on my forehead." Emily was wondering aloud to herself more than telling it to Aaron. How was she going to explain what had happened to Mandy? Should she even explain? Or should she just say she got hurt on the job and that she'd be fine and just leave it at that? But knowing how curious Mandy usually was, she doubted she'd be able to get away without a more thorough explanation. But she really didn't want the girl knowing too much about her work. She was much too young to hear about the dark and gruesome things that unfortunately happened in this world quite often.

"I wouldn't worry too much. Just explain what happened in the simplest way and don't go into the details of the case. And let her know that you'll be okay. The important thing is that you're coming back to her. Just make sure she knows that."

"Okay." Emily nodded in agreement, but continued to pick at her nails.

Knowing he should distract her, he decided to just bite the bullet. "There's something else I haven't told you," he stated with a solemnity that instantly drew her attention to him.

"What?" She questioned apprehensively.

"Uh…Reid knows about us." He admitted and watched her eyes grow wide.

"What? Already? How?" She exclaimed quietly. Of all the teammates she expected to find out about her and Hotch, she never pictured Reid to be the first one to figure it out.

"I may have accidentally let it slip when you were hurt. I wasn't really thinking, and I called you 'sweetheart' in front of him," he admitted sheepishly.

She couldn't help rolling her eyes at him just a little bit. She wasn't upset about it, but part of her had wanted to enjoy their couple-hood a little longer before anyone found out. "So has he said anything about it to you?" She inquired.

"Well, we had a little talk after lunch today about privacy and discretion. I don't think he'll tell anyone." Hotch replied, knowing full well that the young agent was too afraid of ending up on his boss' bad side to fuel the gossip mill. Had it been any other team member, everyone else would probably already know. But for the time being, he was fairly certain he could rely on Reid not to say anything to anyone.

Emily simply nodded and went back to picking at her nails. Now it was Aaron's turn to roll his eyes as he discreetly reached over and grabbed one of her hands, effectively putting an end to the bad habit as he intertwined their fingers together. Somehow he didn't mind the prospect of spending the entire plane ride this way.


	32. Chapter 32

When Aaron pulled up outside of Jessica's house, Emily reluctantly unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out of the passenger side door. She'd been hoping that maybe she was over-stressing about the whole matter and it would turn out not to be a big deal, but her hopes were quickly dashed when Amanda ran out of the front door to come say hi and stopped short upon seeing her aunt. Emily watched her eyes widen as she took in the cast and the bandage on Emily's forehead, and was grateful that her shirt was covering most of the nasty bruises. A second later, she wanted to cringe as she watched Jack exit the front door and have the same reaction.

"Uh, hi guys."

"Emily, what happened to you?" Amanda exclaimed loudly.

Emily cast a worried glance towards Hotch, hoping for help, but only got a reassuring smile in return. She crouched down on the ground so she was eye level with the children. "Well, I got hurt on the job." She said, hoping that would be enough of an explanation.

But of course it wasn't. "How?" Jack inquired, his eyes fixated on her bright red cast.

"Um, I got hit by a car."

She heard Jessica's gasp from the doorway and cringed for sure this time, only just realizing that they probably should have given her a heads up on what had happened before she showed up looking like she did and telling the kids what happened.

"Does it hurt?" Jack asked, his fingers tentatively brushing over the cast.

"Nope, not really. Wanna sign it?" Emily asked, pulling a permanent black marker out of her pocket that she had bought at the airport for just this reason. She figured if they could draw on it they'd be less likely to worry about it.

"Yea! Me first!" Amanda grabbed the marker out of her hand and quickly pulled the cap off. It took her a full two minutes to write 'Mandy' in painstakingly precise letters on the cast, but when she was done she surveyed her work proudly. She drew a little heart by her name before handing the marker over to Jack, whose letters were a lot more sloppily and hastily written, but with as much enthusiasm. He underlined his name and added stars on both sides before handing the marker back to Emily.

She shoved the marker back into her pocket before pulling the kids into a hug, wincing slightly when the kids returned her light hug by wrapping their arms around her tightly, putting pressure on her bruises. "I missed you guys so much. Did you have fun at Aunt Jessica's?"

Amanda pulled back and nodded, but the frown on her face let Emily know that she wasn't so easily getting away with the change of subject. "Emily, did you get hit by a car 'cause you were playing in the street?"

Emily had a difficult time trying to hide her amusement at the six year old's question. She shook her head and gave Mandy a smile. "No sweetie, I wasn't playing in the street. But you're right; you shouldn't play in the street because you could get hurt."

"Then how'd you get hit by a car?" Mandy inquired.

_Well, the girl is nothing if not persistent_, Emily thought to herself. "Well, honey, a guy was backing out of his garage and he was in a hurry and he hit me."

"Oh." Amanda seemed to contemplate this for a moment before asking, "Did he say sorry? 'Cause if you hurt someone, mommy said you have to say sorry."

"Uh…" Emily paused, not really knowing how to answer that. Thankfully Aaron, who had been hanging back and watching the scene up to that point, decided to step in.

"That's right. You're supposed to say sorry if you hurt someone. But Emily didn't see him after he hit her so he didn't get a chance to apologize. But I'm sure he's sorry, honey." _Only because I gave him a broken nose when we took him down for running over my girlfriend… which I hope Emily never finds out about, _he couldn't help adding in his own mind. "Now why don't you and Jack run back inside and get your bags so we can all go home, okay?"

He watched as the kids ran back inside and then reached down to help Emily up from her crouch on the ground. She raised an eyebrow at him with an amused smile. "You're sure he's sorry?" She chuckled. "Somehow I highly doubt that." He didn't answer her but grinned at her instead.

They walked over to where Jessica was still standing in the door frame, watching them with a knowing look in her eyes. But she apparently chose not to comment on her hunches, instead turning towards Emily, asking her, "So how are you really?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders, answering, "Eh, I'm alright. I've got a fair amount of bruises and a concussion, but I'll be fine." Jessica's face clearly stated that she didn't believe her, but she didn't comment either. They made idle chitchat about how the children had gotten along for the past two days until Mandy and Jack reappeared, dragging their bags along behind them. Swooping Jack up into his arms, Aaron made for the car, leaving Mandy and Emily to trail behind him.

After the kids were both situated in their booster seats, he stopped Emily from climbing into the passenger seat with a hand on her cast-less arm. "Wanna take the kids out for supper?" He asked, hoping she'd agree so they could spend more time together as the four of them.

She gave him a guilty look and bit her bottom lip. "I would, but I think maybe I should spend some time alone with Mandy. I feel like we haven't had any time for just the two of us in a while. But maybe tomorrow?" She suggested hopefully, not wanting him to be upset at her rejection.

He raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. "You forgot, didn't you?"

She gave him a puzzled look. "Forgot what?"

"Our date. Remember? The first night after we get back." She colored a little, embarrassed that she had forgotten. He smirked at her, loving that he'd made her blush. "I've already got us a babysitter for tomorrow night after we get off work. Not Jessica – I figure she needs a night off."

"Who then?" She asked, confused as to who else he'd have watch the kids since they were still trying to keep their relationship from the team. Except for Reid – but she didn't figure he'd ask boy genius to watch the kids since he was known for being notoriously clueless when it came to kids and pets …and women, too.

"You'll just have to wait and see." He smirked again and headed for the driver's side door.

She climbed in, pondering who it could be, but was quickly distracted by the children's chatter which persisted throughout the entire short drive to Emily's apartment.

As he pulled up in front of her building, he heard her quietly exclaim "Oh no!" and looked over to find that she had paled considerably. Quickly scanning the front of her building to see what had caused her reaction, it didn't take long for him to find the reason. Janine, Mandy's social worker from the courthouse, was approaching Emily's building, intent on making a surprise visit to check up on the two.


	33. Chapter 33

Emily suddenly found herself wishing that she had agreed to dinner with Aaron and Jack so that she would have missed Janine entirely. But since they were already at her apartment, there was nothing left to do but bite the bullet and get out of the vehicle. Promising to call Aaron later, she lifted Amanda out of her booster seat and grabbed both of their go-bags before heading for the building entrance. Apparently the social worker had spotted them arriving because she stood patiently at the front door waiting for them to make their way over.

It was fairly easy for Emily to pinpoint the exact moment when Janine noticed her injuries since the shock and surprise was displayed openly on the woman's face. But to her credit, she recovered quickly and held her tongue as they approached. Greetings were hastily exchanged as Emily dug through her purse to find her keys and then opened the door to her apartment and invited the other woman in.

She let Janine and Mandy head to the living room, as she went to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, taking advantage of the opportunity to quell her nerves. This was definitely not how she had wanted the social worker to see her and Amanda – just returning from a case, during which she had been injured, and not having actually seen her niece for the past two days. It definitely didn't portray the "we're a united family and getting along great" vibe that she wanted Janine to get. Rather, it was quite the opposite – and the sudden unpleasant thought that Janine might want to take Mandy away from her after the unannounced visit today had Emily ready to freak out.

As the coffee brewed, she inched towards the door leading to the living room to see if she could hear anything of the conversation going on between Janine and Mandy. Sure, maybe eavesdropping wasn't the classiest thing to do, but when it came to keeping Amanda with her, she'd do just about anything to make sure she didn't lose the girl that had become so precious and dear to her.

"…and do you like going to stay at Jessica's house?" She heard Janine ask.

"Um, sometimes." Mandy answered. Emily paused at hearing this answer since up until now she had gotten the impression that Amanda really enjoyed the time she spent with Jack's aunt.

"Why sometimes?" Janine inquired.

"Well, I like it 'cause I like playing with Jack. And 'cause Jessica shows us how to do all kinds of neat stuff, so it's lots of fun. But I don't like it 'cause that means Emily has to go away again. So, sometimes." Amanda stated decisively.

"Do you like living with your aunt?" Emily waited with bated breath to hear the answer, really hoping the girl had not only become comfortable with living with her but also actually enjoyed it. But maybe she was expecting too much, too soon.

"Yeah, Emily's nice. We put up pictures of mommy and daddy on the walls and have pancakes on Saturdays just like I used to before. And she came back from work when I got sick."

"You were sick?" Janine inquired, and from her eavesdropping spot in the kitchen Emily cringed. Take the neglect on her part to look into Amanda's medical files that had led to the girl ending up in the hospital and add to it the fact that she got run over on the last case and Janine was surely going to be doubting her ability to raise a child. Glancing over at the counter, she realized the coffee had finished percolating – probably several minutes ago – and knew that she couldn't really afford to stand there and listen in any longer. It was probably for the best anyways since the more she heard and contemplated about what could happen the more her palms started to sweat and her mouth went dry.

She quickly prepared two cups of coffee and poured a glass of milk for Amanda, placing it all on a tray and tossing on a few chocolate chip cookies for good measure. She wasn't really sure what was expected of her during these visits, but she figured she might as well try and play hostess and do her best to make sure the visit didn't end up being a total disaster.

By the time Emily carried the tray into the living room and placed it on the coffee table, Janine and Amanda had already moved onto the subject of her starting first grade in less than a week. Taking a seat after handing each their drinks, Emily listened in. Amanda seemed really excited about the prospect, explaining how she and Jack would go to the same school but be in different classes and how she wanted to get a new box of crayons for her first day of school.

When she'd finished explaining how she really wanted the big 64 crayon box because the box of 32 didn't have all the shades she liked, she turned eagerly towards her aunt. "Emily, can we go get crayons before I start school again?"

"Yeah, sweetie, we still have to do your school clothes shopping too, so we'll get them at the same time, okay?"

"Okay. Can I have a cookie?"

"Sure. But just one so you don't spoil your dinner. Why don't you take it upstairs and you can unpack your bag after you eat it?" Emily suggested, knowing she'd need time alone with Janine to explain her injuries.

Watching as the little girl made her way out of the room and up the stairs with her cookie and her bag, Emily suddenly found herself wishing her back as the room was filled with an awkward silence. Taking a sip of her coffee, she glanced over at Janine who was jotting down notes on a yellow notepad.

"Uh, I guess I should explain how I got these injuries." She ventured hesitantly, and watched as Janine put down her pen and gave her her full attention. "Well, see, we were on a case in Kansas and me and my partner were headed to a house to interview a suspect, and it turned out he was the unsub –" She watched Janine's brow wrinkle in confusion and hurried to explain, "unsub means unknown subject – the perpetrator – it's just what we call the person committing the crime to shorten it and make it easier –" She realized she was rambling out of nervousness and steered herself back on course. "– anyways, we went to his house and the garage was open and when I went to find him, he backed his car out of the garage and hit me. My arm is broken and I had a concussion from hitting my head on the pavement, plus a few bruises." Janine didn't say anything, but started writing again on her notepad. "But I'm alright. I can still do pretty much everything I need to do, I just can't do field work with a cast for the next 6 weeks." Emily rushed to reassure her, hoping Janine wouldn't take her injuries as a sign that she couldn't take care of Amanda or herself.

Janine didn't respond to her assertions, settling for a simple nod of the head instead. "So Amanda told me that she went to the hospital?"

"Uh yeah. I didn't know about her allergies and Jessica – Aaron's sister-in-law – had given her a banana. But she got her medical attention right away and I came back from New York as soon as I heard. Now we've got an EpiPen so we're prepared in case anything like that happens again and I've cleared the house of anything with latex."

"That never should have happened. At the courthouse, you should have been given all relevant information from her medical files that you would need to care for her properly. I'll make sure you get sent the necessary documents within the next couple of days."

"Okay." Emily was just relieved that Janine didn't seem too upset or angry with her over the incident.

"So in your opinion, how would you say Amanda's been adjusting to living with you?"

"I think it's been going well. It's still all pretty new and I can tell she misses her parents a lot, of course. I'm hoping that once school starts for her in a few days she'll settle into a routine and become more comfortable living here."

"Considering your job, would you say that it's difficult to establish a routine with her?"

Emily bit her lip, wondering how to answer that. "Well, I suppose that her life might be less normal than if I had a regular 9 to 5 job. But I don't have that kind of job. And I think that even with my job, I can still provide a stable home for her. A lot of other agents have children and are still able to do their job. Even my supervisor, Agent Hotchner – Mandy's godfather – is a single parent and able to make it work." Emily knew that she was getting defensive, but she couldn't help it. It didn't seem fair or right to her to have to give up her job in order to keep Amanda. She would if she had to, but for the moment she was intent on fighting to keep them both.

"And Agent Hotchner was the one who dropped you and Amanda off today?"

"Yes," Emily replied, wondering where she was going with this line of questioning.

"What sort of relationship would you say you and Aaron Hotchner have?"

"I don't see how that's relevant." Emily replied succinctly, clearly unhappy with the direction the visit seemed to have taken. She had to restrain herself from crossing her arms in what would have been an obvious show of defiance. She still needed Janine to approve of her as a guardian for Amanda.

"Emily, I know it feels like an invasion of your privacy for me to ask these questions, but as Amanda's social worker, it's my job to be aware of any situations that could end up affecting her well-being."

Emily released a sigh. What Janine was saying made sense, but she really didn't like the idea of telling a stranger about her relationship with Aaron when she hadn't even told her closest friends yet. So she relented and settled for a compromise. "Aaron and I are close friends. We've been spending a lot of time together, since he wants to be a part of Amanda's life, too."

"And what about the potential for a relationship between you two?" Janine pushed further.

"Well, it's not impossible. But neither Aaron nor I would ever want to do anything that would hurt Amanda or Jack, so we'd be very cautious in that matter."

Janine nodded and jotted a few notes on the notepad that Emily had come to hate over the last few minutes. "Could you show me around the apartment? I'd like to see Amanda's room and the rooms where she spends most of her time."

"Okay." Emily set down her coffee mug and led Janine towards the kitchen first. "Mainly she spends her time in the living room or in her bedroom, but we do have meals in here at the table." After the kitchen, they headed up the stairs, passing the office on the way. "I keep the office locked because I don't want her seeing any files that I might have to bring home. My bedroom's at the far end of the hall, the bathroom's to the left, and this room right here is Mandy's." They knocked on the open door to let Amanda know they were there. She was on her bed coloring, her still-packed bag sitting beside her.

"Mandy, did you finish eating your cookie?" Emily asked her.

"Uh huh." The girl replied, looking up at them from her Disney princess coloring book.

"What were you supposed to do after you finished eating your cookie?"

"Um, unpack my bag?" The girl hesitantly suggested, eyeing the bag beside her guiltily.

"That's right. So could you do that please? That way we can wash the dirty clothes and the clean clothes are put away."

"Okay." She slid off the bed to do as she was asked and Emily breathed a quiet sigh of relief that she didn't put up a fight in front of the social worker.

"We're planning on painting the walls." Emily offered up as Janine surveyed the room and continued to take notes. When she finished, she bid goodbye to Amanda, and Emily walked her back down the stairs and to the door.

"So, um, now what?" Emily inquired worriedly. Would she want to take Amanda away from her? Did she think she was an unfit parent to the girl?

"Well, I have some concerns about how stable Amanda's life is right now," Janine told her, eyeing her sternly before continuing, "but nothing to warrant any action at this time. As you stated previously, perhaps once she begins first grade things will become more constant and normal for her. In the meantime, I'll have her medical information sent to you and I'll be in contact."

Emily bid her goodbye and shut the door after her, slumping against it in relief as soon as Janine was gone and regrettably noting that her headache had returned full force.


	34. Chapter 34

**Hello, my faithful readers! I feel super guilty that it's been so long since I've updated – life got a little crazy and busy for a bit there. Plus, I'm now convinced that my muse didn't just go on vacation, but abandoned me altogether. Anyways, the following chapter isn't very long, but hopefully I'll have the next one up soon since life is getting back to normal… whatever normal is. At any rate, thank you for your patience & your continued reviews. They're much appreciated!**

Emily made her way to the living room, slumping onto the couch as she dialed the local pizza place's number from memory. She ordered the ham and pineapple pizza that Amanda had requested they have the other day and then hung up, dialing Aaron's number next.

"Hotchner."

"Hey, it's me." She mumbled dejectedly, immediately alerting him to the fact that she wasn't in high spirits.

"How'd it go?" He questioned hesitantly, unsure if she would even want to talk about it considering her current tone of voice.

"Ugh. I don't know. It felt like one massive catastrophe from start to finish." She grumbled into the phone, while using her free hand to massage her temple, trying to will away the raging headache that was quickly blooming into a migraine. "Basically, the highlights include showing up looking like I got run over, trying to explain why Amanda made a trip to the hospital just a few days after she came home with me, and then getting grilled on my relationship with you and being told that I'm not providing enough stability for Amanda."

"Wow." He stated simply.

_Hmph, yeah, 'wow', _she couldn't help thinking with a roll of her eyes. It was one of those over-used words that Hotch rarely ever used, and come to think of it, she could only remember one other time he had used the word around her: when she'd told him in a locker room on a case that she'd dated worse men than Viper. Yeah, it wasn't a particularly pleasant '_wow_' then either. _One of these days I'll have to give him something more positive to say wow about_, she thought to herself with a smirk.

"Emily, are you still there?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Just getting lost in thoughts, I guess." This time with an eye roll directed at herself. "Anyways, Janine's not planning on removing her from me at the moment, which is good I suppose, but I guess she's not convinced that I'm a good guardian for her."

"She's wrong. You're great with Amanda. She just didn't get the chance to see that today."

She smiled a little at his words. She had no idea when this all had started just a few short weeks ago that he would turn out to be one of the most supportive and loyal men she knew.

"Thanks." She uttered quietly. "I guess I should get going. Amanda and I have to have a talk about pets and responsibilities – a conversation I'm not looking forward to considering it feels like there's a little drummer boy in my head pounding away."

"Don't be a masochist – take the pills the doctor prescribed you." He ordered her good-naturedly. "And don't even think about coming into the office for the rest of the week. You're out on medical leave and after that you'll be staying in Quantico to work with Garcia until the cast comes off."

She wanted to complain, insist she could work, and tell him not to coddle her, but even if she didn't think she needed the time off or to stay behind on cases, she wasn't foolish enough to think she had a shot in hell at convincing Aaron otherwise. And at any rate, it would be nice to have the time to spend with Amanda. You know, work on that whole stability thing that Janine was going on about. She was about to inform him that she'd acquiesce to his demands when the doorbell rang. "That'll be the pizza. I should go."

"Okay. Well, before you go, about tomorrow – if you and Mandy could be here at my place by 6, the babysitter will be waiting. Also, dress nice." She could definitely tell he was smiling by the tone of his voice, and her curiosity level went up a notch about the plans he had made for their first date.

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye, Emily." He replied.

She was about to hang up, but thought better of it. "Oh, Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't wait for tomorrow." She told him sincerely.

"Good. Me too."

She heard the dial tone on the other end, quickly followed by the doorbell ringing again. She picked herself up off the couch and grabbed her purse on the way to the door, hoping the pizza delivery boy didn't ring the doorbell again because it was only making her headache worse. She called out Mandy's name, letting the girl know she should come down from her room for dinner. But when she got to the door and opened it, there was no ham and pineapple pizza waiting for her on the other side.

"Mother?" Emily asked, as her eyebrows shot up in surprise.


	35. Chapter 35

Ambassador Prentiss ran her gaze over Emily, pointedly noting the injuries before demanding, "Well, Emily, are you going to stand there staring at me or are you going to invite me in?"

The social worker and her mother all in one day? When had the gods decided to hate her? Emily moved aside so her mother could enter the apartment, but still said nothing since she didn't really know what to say. After the last conversation they had shared 3 days ago, she hadn't expected to hear from the ambassador any time soon and definitely didn't expect to find her on her doorstep.

As she closed the door and followed her mother down the hall to the living room, she noticed that Amanda was making her way down the stairs, cautiously watching the grandmother that she'd only met once and spent very little time with.

Before her mother made it far into the living room, Emily grabbed her arm and rerouted her into the kitchen, fully intent on making sure she didn't go on another one of her 'your job is too dangerous' rants in front of Amanda. She turned to the girl who was watching them curiously. "Sweetie, why don't you watch some cartoons. The pizza will be here soon, okay?" She waited until the tv had been turned on and the girl had settled in, before heading into the kitchen.

"Emily Prentiss, I am not accustomed to being manhandled! Now would you like to inform me why you felt it was necessary to pull me away from my granddaughter who I haven't seen in a week?"

Emily raised an eyebrow in incredulity, but chose not to comment on the fact that it was her own fault she hadn't made contact with the girl since Emily had been given custody. It was better if she just cut to the chase anyways, no? "I figured we have a few things to discuss first." Emily stated, crossing her arms in front of her, intent on defending herself before her mother even got a chance to start. A good offense is the best defense, right? "What are you doing here?"

"I told you I was planning on being in town midweek and I want to spend time with my granddaughter."

That threw Emily off her guard – her mother actually sounded sincere. "You do?" She questioned uncertainly.

"Of course I do." The ambassador replied defensively. But she quickly relented, knowing her daughter wanted a better explanation. "Look, I know that I've not been here the last week and I know I left the courthouse abruptly. To be honest, I just wasn't ready." Elizabeth diverted her eyes, seemingly uncomfortable with the admission. When she spoke again, her voice was significantly lower and Emily had to listen closely to hear her. "I didn't know how to act around her. I watched you, it was easy for you – you just went up to her and started playing with her like it was the most natural thing in the world. But I've never been very good with children – I'm sure you know that by now. And after everything I went through with her mother and then for her to die – I don't know. It was just too much all at once."

Emily was astounded. She'd never in all her life heard her mother be so open or frank about her feelings or her shortcomings. She wanted to give her mother a hug, but it just seemed too awkward to even attempt. Instead, she busied herself by grabbing the prescription bottle out of her purse and filling a glass of water, quickly downing two pills and hoping her intense headache would dissipate swiftly. "So why now? What's changed in the last week?" She questioned after finally turning back to her mother.

Elizabeth shrugged. "I just needed some time to deal with Jenna's death. It just felt wrong, after having this whole buildup to Jenna introducing me to Amanda, and then to have it happen the way it did – it just didn't feel right. I mean, obviously it wasn't right because Jenna and Steve weren't supposed to die. But, I've wanted to meet Amanda since the day she was born. I've wanted to be a part of her family from day one. I just never expected it to happen the way it did. But once she was part of our family, once she was with you – I knew that you would take care of her, that you'd offer her the home she needs and the love she needs. So once it was a done deal, I just needed to go away and deal with everything. I know it wasn't the best reaction to have to everything, but I just didn't know what to do. Do you know what I mean?"

Emily slowly nodded her head, processing what her mother was saying. "Yeah, I think I get it. But that little girl in there needs as much family as she can get. So if you're planning on being in her life, you need to really _be_ in her life. You need to visit her and call her and really get to know her."

Elizabeth shot her a look that clearly said '_Don't patronize me_', but she nodded her head in compliance, then quickly changed the subject. "So, aren't you going to explain how you got your injuries?"

"Maybe."

Her mother quirked an eyebrow and shot her a look at that answer. "_Maybe_?"

"I'll explain as long as you promise not to give me another lecture about my job. I know my job isn't the safest thing I could be doing, but I enjoy it. It makes me happy and I like knowing that I'm helping people. And don't say that I could be helping people in another job, too. This is where I feel I'm supposed to be and I'm not going to change that so it's no use trying to talk me out of it."

The ambassador raised her hands in surrender, wordlessly signaling that she wouldn't lecture. "You got your injuries on the job, I can assume then. So what happened?"

"Long story short – we were supposed to interview a person of interest, but when we arrived the suspect backed his car out of the garage and hit me. It's nothing major – a slight concussion (_okay, she might be downplaying that one a tiny bit_), a few bruises (_that one, too_) and a broken wrist. I'll be out of the field for six weeks until the cast comes off, which means I'll be able to stay here in Quantico with Amanda. So I guess getting run over has its upside." She joked lightheartedly, hoping her mother really would abstain from going on another rant about the dangers of her job.

And to her surprise, she did. "So did you catch the guy?"

"Well, I didn't. But Aaron – Agent Hotchner – did." She shot her mother a challenging look, silently daring her to make another comment or start another rant about the dangers of a relationship with her boss.

Her mother raised her hands in surrender again. "You're an adult – I won't meddle anymore."

To say the least, Emily was surprised. "What's with this whole Zen thing you've got going on all of a sudden?"

Elizabeth chuckled and shrugged again, surprising Emily even more. "Well, it could be the aromatherapy that Adam insisted I try." She joked. "But in all seriousness Emily, I know I haven't been an ideal mother to you, but I do worry about you. Not just about my own political agenda." She added wryly.

Emily rolled her eyes at the overt reference to the accusation she'd hurled at her mother during their last phone conversation. "Yeah, mom. I know you care. I just need the space to be who I am and make my own decisions."

"Duly noted. Now why don't we all go out to dinner, my treat?"

"Actually, I've ordered pizza. I just got back from a case, so I figured a night in with Amanda would be good. But you can join us, if you want."

"Alright. I can do pizza."

"Good. Why don't you head into the living room? I think I just heard the delivery guy pull up."

XXX

When she walked back into the living room with the box of pizza, she found her mother awkwardly trying to make conversation with Mandy about the Spongebob Squarepants characters. The evening started out a little uncomfortable for them all, but Emily did her best to encourage conversation between the two. Fortunately, Mandy had remembered meeting her grandmother the week prior, but she still seemed rather shy and apprehensive at first. However, once they'd finished their pizza and begun playing Monopoly Junior, it didn't take long for her to warm up to Elizabeth. Soon she was telling her all about Jack, and starting school, and the cat she wanted to get if Emily allowed her.

Luckily, sometime after dinner Emily's headache had finally disappeared and she was in a good enough mood to indulge the girl's consistent pestering for a cat. Truth be told, somewhere along the way Emily had secretly decided that she'd very much like to have a cat as well (considering she never could really have pets growing up since they moved around so much). She made a mental note to ask their neighbor Mrs. Sanchez about feeding the cat when she was away on cases before having the responsibilities discussion with Amanda to talk about taking care of it.

After Monopoly, came an episode of Blue's Clues (during which they indulged in hot fudge sundaes) followed by an episode of Dora the Explorer and then bedtime. Once Emily had tucked Mandy in and read her Dr. Seuss' 'Oh The Places You'll Go', the girl had fallen asleep. So she kissed her on the forehead, switched off her lamp, and snuck soundlessly back downstairs to the living room where her mother was quietly enduring an episode of Wonder Pets.

"You're not voluntarily watching this are you?" She asked in a playfully mocking tone before grabbing the remote and switching off the dvd player and the tv.

"I'm just trying to figure out why there are baby pets going around saving other baby pets. Seems rather irresponsible of their parents, don't you think?"

Emily laughed outright at this. "I guess so. I suppose children's programs aren't exactly known for being realistic. Just look at Barney – a stuffed purple dinosaur that comes to life."

"No, I suppose not."

Emily headed to the kitchen and grabbed two wine glasses and a bottle of Pinot Noir that she had chilling in the fridge. She returned to the living room and settled onto the couch, pouring them both a glass. "So how long are you in town for?"

"I fly out for Morocco on Friday morning. I have meetings all day Thursday, but I have some free time tomorrow from about noon 'til 2. I thought maybe we could do lunch?"

"Sure. I'm out on medical leave for the rest of the week anyways, so I was planning on taking Amanda shopping for school clothes and supplies tomorrow morning. We could meet you somewhere after?"

"I'm staying at the Syrian Embassy. Why don't you meet me there at noon?"

"Okay." After they'd set plans for the following day, they lapsed into a fairly comfortable silence.

They didn't really have the sort of relationship that involved much non-business-related discussion between them, but Emily was intent on changing that. If her mother intended on being in her life on a regular basis in order to be in Amanda's life, then they needed to make an effort, right?

Tentatively, she broached the only subject that came to mind that she actually wanted to discuss with her mother.

"Did – uh – did Jenna know about me?" It was a question that had first occurred to her when she set foot in the Davis' house and it had been begging to be asked ever since.

Elizabeth looked at Emily, but didn't seem too surprised at the question. She did, on the other hand, look kind of guilty. She set her glass of wine on the coffee table before turning to face her daughter on the sofa. "She did. She wanted to meet you, but I… I didn't want to tell you yet. I didn't know how to. I was still… I guess I felt… ashamed…embarrassed about everything that had happened. And I didn't know how you would react."

Emily listened in silence, unsuccessfully trying to ignore and blink away the tears that were prickling at her eyes. She didn't want her mother to feel guilty, it wouldn't do any good at this point, the decision was made and the past can't be changed. But she couldn't deny that it made her incredibly sad to know that and to know also that her mother still felt shame about something that had happened to her so many years ago – something that she never should have felt shame about in the first place. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, and ignoring the few tears that had seeped out, she forced herself to push the conversation forward. "Tell me about the first time you met – what it was like."

Elizabeth was staring at her hands in her lap, picking at her fingers and Emily wryly noted that that must be where she got the bad habit from.

"Well, I remember being really very nervous for days leading up to it…." Elizabeth started the story, and for the following hours they lost themselves in conversation about Jenna and Steve as Elizabeth knew them. By the time midnight rolled around though, she was feeling significantly tired and was still feeling sore and exhausted from the bruising her body had taken the day before. Her mother of course noticed and ordered her off to bed, insisting she could let herself out and that she would see her and Amanda for lunch the next day.

Emily dragged herself up the stairs and quickly changed before settling into bed. Before sleep came to claim her, she couldn't help thinking that she'd never felt quite so comfortable or at peace with her and her mother's relationship. Apparently, they were making progress.


	36. Chapter 36

**Hello my wonderful readers! I know I said before that there would probably only be a few chapters left and that was like 5 chapters ago, but I'm thinking there will be 3 or 4 more, then I'm calling it quits. But I still plan on doing the M rated one-shot sequel for those that are interested & it'll be posted shortly after the last chapter. **

**So the last half of this chapter is probably very girly, but fyi in this chapter 3 dresses are mentioned & I thought there might be some readers who want a visual. So if you're interested, go to google, click on images, and copy & paste the following to find the dresses (in order that they're mentioned): 1. Ruched Calf Length Halter Cocktail Dress-Burgundy. 2. Reem Acra resort 2010 purple wrap satin dress. 3.** **donna ricco wrapped bust satin sheath black dress. The dresses are the very first image that pops up for each one (or well, should be). **

**Okay, sorry this a/n was so long. Now on w/ the story…**

Wednesday morning bloomed bright and sunny, for which Emily was quite grateful, knowing soon the weather would turn harsh and cold. By 8 o'clock, Emily was ushering Amanda out of the house and into her booster seat so they could set off for the mall. She had noticed in the first few days after Amanda had moved in with her that her niece tended to be very quiet when she first woke up but as the day progressed she'd become more and more talkative. Somehow she could foresee years of adolescence when she'd be dragging Amanda out of bed in the morning and then trying to persuade her to go to sleep late at night. Normally she wouldn't exactly be thrilled at such a prospect, but there was a certain level of comfort and happiness she derived from knowing that, although she didn't know what the future would hold for her career-wise or relationship-wise, in ten years' time Amanda would still be a large part of her life. (Barring any further mishaps with the social worker, of course – and after a good night's sleep she felt a lot less anxious and worried about that possibility.)

By the time Emily had buckled the girl in to her seat and started their journey to the mall, Amanda was in full conversation mode.

"_Emily, why is broccoli green?" "Where does the moon go when the sun's out?" "Is Spongebob real?"_ and _"How long would it take someone to run around the world?" _were just a few of the questions that Emily found herself struggling to come up with answers for during their ride. Why hadn't she paid better attention in science class when she was still in school? She had no idea how to properly answer half of Amanda's questions and she was just hoping she wouldn't have to answer the '_Where do babies come from?'_ question for a few more years.

They were standing in the middle of Macy's picking out Disney princess underwear when Amanda's next question caught her off guard.

"Emily, can we get a monkey?"

_Um, what?_ "I thought you wanted to get a cat." Emily reasoned.

"Well, I do. But I want to get a monkey too. Like Dora's friend, Boots. Pleeeaaase!" Amanda's puppy dog eyes were so adorable that Emily hated the fact that she'd have to tell her no.

She crouched down so she was on eye level view with Amanda. "No, sweetie. We can't get a monkey. Most monkeys live in the wild or in the zoo; they're not meant to be pets." Amanda's crestfallen face nearly broke her heart. "But I've been thinking about the cat. And if you promise to help me take care of it by feeding it every day, I think we can get a kitty. Okay?"

"Yes!" Amanda shouted as she jumped up and down, and then proceeded to run around the store in excitement, before circling back around to where Emily was standing. "Can we get it today?"

"Not today. We have a lot to get done today, remember? We're having lunch with Grandma Prentiss (dang it was weird to call her that!) and then this evening you and Jack are gonna hang out while Aaron and I have dinner."

"So when can we get it?"

"We'll get it soon, don't worry. In the meantime, we still have to get your new uniforms."

"Aww. Do I _haaave_ to wear a uniform?" Amanda whined.

"Yep. Everyone does."

"Jack too?"

"Yep, Jack too. Now how about we get you that 64 crayon box that you wanted?"

"Sweet!" Amanda screeched.

"Totally." Emily replied, chuckling. She was just grateful that Amanda was still at that stage where she could be easily bargained with or distracted.

Two hours later, they had been to 3 different stores and bought everything that Amanda could possibly need for school – and then some. They loaded the last of their bags into the trunk and then headed to the Syrian Embassy to have lunch with Ambassador Prentiss.

When they arrived and entered the Embassy, they found Elizabeth waiting just inside for them standing beside a brand new pink bike with training wheels that was adorned with a large blue bow.

Amanda squealed and ran up to her grandmother. "Is that for me?"

"It is!"

Emily was surprised – her mother seemed to have quite unexpectedly turned the corner towards doting grandmother all of a sudden. "This is unexpected."

"Yeah, well, I'm her grandma, I'm allowed to spoil her every now and then, right?" Elizabeth replied with a smile.

"Guess so. Ready for lunch?"

"Yeah, let me just grab my coat. Why don't I have the bike sent over to your apartment some time tomorrow morning?"

"Okay."

Amanda started tugging on Emily's hand. "Will you teach me to ride tomorrow? Pretty please?"

"Sure. We can go to the park and I'll teach you there – as long as it doesn't rain."

XXX

By 4pm, Emily was back at her apartment, all the new school clothes and supplies had been put away, she had showered and shaved, and now she was frantically searching through her closet while Amanda colored with her new box of crayons downstairs.

As much fun as she had thought getting a candy apple red cast would be, she now cursed the decision as she had come to realize that it clashed with the calf-length burgundy halter dress she had been thinking of wearing on her first date with Aaron. She wanted to call in the reinforcements and have JJ and Garcia show up to ransack her closet, jewelry box, and makeup bag with her, but that would probably defeat the purpose of her and Aaron not telling them about it in the first place, right?

After pulling nearly every dress and skirt out of her closet and laying them on her bed, she finally narrowed it down to two dresses. The first one was a rich purple satin dress with a V-neck and a thin belt around the center. The second was her tried and true little black dress that was also satin and had one shoulder strap. She decided to go with the purple dress since it would probably cover her fading bruises better than the black one would (and the burgundy, as well, now that she thought about it). The cast itself would be enough of a hindrance; she didn't need to scare Aaron away with the bruises, too. She hurriedly shoved the rest of the clothes back into the closet, noting that it had taken her three quarters of an hour just to pick out a dress. She kept her makeup light, and styled her hair so that it framed her face in soft curls, before finishing the look with a pair of strappy silver heels, a black clutch, and a thin silver bracelet.

Standing back from the mirror, she surveyed the look. All in all, she thought she looked pretty darn good for having been hit by a car just a few days before – except for that blasted cast. It was pretty much just ruining the whole effect for her. But, oh well, there was nothing to be done about it.

She glanced at the clock, realizing that it was 5:20 already and Amanda still needed to have dinner before they left. She raced down the stairs, calling for Amanda as she headed for the kitchen. She really hadn't thought through the whole cooking in a nice dress thing, so she certainly didn't want to make anything that would potentially splatter or spill. Plus, she didn't really have the time for that if they were going to make it to Aaron's on time. Rooting through the fridge, she pulled out lunch meat and cheese to make a sandwich, as well as a jar of applesauce. Granted, it wasn't the most well-balanced meal. She really needed to get out of the cooking-for-one mindset so she could be sure Amanda was eating healthy meals.

"Wow, you look pretty." She heard Amanda approach her from behind and turned to set the plate on the table for her.

"Thank you, sweetie."

"Aren't you gonna eat, too?" Amanda asked as she took a bite of the ham and cheese sandwich.

"No. Aaron and I are having dinner, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Can I take my crayons to show Jack?"

"Sure thing. We have to leave soon though, so I'll go grab your jacket and shoes."

"_Eeeemily_, it's warm outside." Amanda stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't need a jacket."

"Well, it'll get colder later when we're coming home, so I'll grab it anyways, kiddo."

"Oookay." Amanda rolled her eyes, clearly thinking that her aunt was silly for thinking she'd need a jacket. Emily chuckled at the familiar gesture, as she headed for the stairs.

By the time Emily rushed Amanda from the house it was already a quarter to six, and barring any traffic problems, they would arrive just on time.

When they pulled up to Aaron's building, Emily suddenly found herself feeling very nervous. Four years of building on a friendship seemed to have finally come down to this moment. What if it all went horribly wrong? What if they ended up having nothing to talk about other than cases and work? What if, after all this, he decided that he wasn't really ready to be in a relationship again? These were the questions that were racing through Emily's mind as she approached Aaron's door, holding Amanda's hand in her own cast-less one.

She quickly ran her casted hand over her dress, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles, and took a deep breath to settle the butterflies in her stomach before knocking on the door.


	37. Chapter 37

When Aaron opened the door, the sight before him left him speechless. He had seen Emily dressed up before – usually when she was going undercover to catch an unsub – but never had he seen her quite like this. And knowing that it was for him that she looked this way just made it all the better. He let his eyes roam over her features, top to bottom and back again, taking it all in, before finally meeting her dark brown eyes that sparkled with her amusement at his blatantly checking her out. _How did I get so lucky?_, he wondered.

"You look absolutely stunning." He finally told her and was rewarded with a shy smile that he thought to be the perfect accessory to her exquisiteness. He stepped to the side so they could enter, ruffling Amanda's hair in hello as she passed him by. He shut the door after them and Amanda rushed to the living room to find Jack while Emily remained in the hall with him. Turning to her, he closed the distance between them quickly, tugging her ever closer with one hand on her neck, the other on her hip, until his lips were pressed firmly against hers. He could tell that he'd surprised her when she tensed for a moment, before relaxing into him and kissing him back, her casted wrist wrapped around his back, and her other hand burrowing into the hair at the nape of his neck. When he felt her begin to break away, he pulled her tighter against him for just a moment, kissing her even more fervently before finally releasing her. "I've been thinking about doing that all day." She grinned at him and let him lead her into the living room. "There's someone I want you to meet. This is my brother, Sean. Sean, this is Emily and Amanda."

Emily took in the tall man before her, noting that despite the age difference and his being blonde, the family resemblance between the two men was still fairly obvious. "Nice to meet you." She replied to his greeting as she shook his hand. "So you're the one getting stuck on babysitting duty tonight?"

"Indeed. But I don't mind. I'm just surprised Aaron's actually getting out for a change. I think you're having quite the effect on him – he spent nearly twenty minutes just picking out a tie." He told her in a conspiratorial whisper loud enough for his brother to hear clearly. Emily surreptitiously glanced over at her date, eyeing the black, grey, and white striped silk tie that he'd paired with a white shirt and a black pinstripe suit.

"And on that note, we should probably get going." Aaron interrupted, obviously embarrassed that Sean had let that little bit of information slip. Ignoring the smug grin on Sean's face, he led Emily out the door after they said goodbye to the kids.

When he opened the passenger side door of his SUV for her, she turned to face him, not getting in just yet. "Good choice." She told him.

He quirked an eyebrow, clearly not getting what she was referring to.

"The tie. It's a good choice. I like it."

"Oh." He averted his eyes, clearly embarrassed again at the renewal of the subject.

"If it makes you feel any better, I spent 45 minutes just picking out this dress." She told him with a grin.

She watched his eyes skate over her body again, feeling a thrill when his dimpled smile let her know he liked what he saw. "Hmm, well then, I'm not the only one that made a good choice tonight." He told her before leaning in to place a short, sweet kiss on her lips. Emily climbed into the SUV with a smirk, knowing that she was giving him a nice view of her rear as she did so.

By the time Aaron had gotten into the driver's seat and backed the SUV out of his driveway, she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. "So are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope. Not a chance," was his quick reply.

"Not even a little hint?" She pleaded with him playfully.

"Okay. One hint. Water."

"Water? That's a little vague. Can you be more specific?"

"Nope." He answered with a grin.

"If I guess it, will you tell me?"

"Nope." He replied again. She huffed at his answer, but it was obvious she wasn't really upset. If anything, she was intrigued.

She was debating on ways to try and get more information out of him, but was interrupted by a ringing cellphone. "Is that mine or yours?" She asked.

"I think it's yours."

She opened her clutch and took out her phone to find that JJ was calling her. "It's JJ. Can't be a case or she'd have called you first and I'm still on medical leave."

"You should answer it anyways. It might be important."

Normally she made a rule about not answer her phone on dates (unless it was someone from work or the date was going horribly), but he had a point – it could be important. "Hey Jayje, what's up?"

"Hey Em! Where are you at? Garcia and I are standing outside your door with a pizza and margarita mix ("and a milkshake for Amanda" she heard Pen add in the background), but you're nowhere to be found."

"Oh. Uh, sorry. I kinda already have plans for tonight. I won't be home for a while."

"You have plans?" JJ asked incredulously. "Wait, are you on a date?" ("She's on a date?" Pen squealed.)

"Um….maybe." Crap, how was she gonna get outta this?

"You _are_ on a date! With who? And why didn't you tell us?"

"Um…. uh…"

"Oh my god, you're on a date with Hotch, aren't you?" ("Hotch?" Garcia's shriek was hard to miss.)

"Uh, I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Emily hung up the phone before JJ could get in another word. "Oh my god." Emily groaned, planting her forehead in her palm. She started giggling uncontrollably. It figures that she wouldn't even be able to make it through one date with Aaron without everyone finding out. When she got her giggling under control, she informed him of the conversation, adding on "We're so busted."

"How did she know it was me you're out with?" He asked in disbelief, thinking JJ really should take the training to become a profiler.

"Uh, I guess she put two and two together. She knows that I like you, she knows that I haven't been dating anyone for a while, and I usually tell her who I'm going out with, so simply by the fact that I didn't tell her – well, I guess she figured it out. And Garcia was there, so now she knows – which means that within the next 5 minutes Morgan will know too. I guess the only one out of the loop here is Rossi."

He pulled the SUV into a parking lot, and Emily only just realized that they'd arrived – and not just anywhere. "Oh my god. _La Rosa Nautica?_ But how? They're booked for months in advance." La Rosa Nautica was an extremely upscale restaurant with international cuisine that was actually out in the bay, at the end of a pier. She'd never been before and always wanted to go, but the reservations were incredibly hard to get.

He smiled, just glad that she seemed really happy with his choice. "Rossi's actually not out of the loop any more. He's a friend of the maître d' and I had to let slip about us to get him to call in the favor."

She grinned at him. "Apparently we're not very good at keeping secrets."

"Apparently not." He got out of the car and came around to her side to open the door for her again.

_Hmm, I could get used to this_, she thought to herself. She took his arm and they began the long walk down the lighted pier. When they made it inside Aaron gave his name to the maître d' and they were seated right away. The waitress took their order – ceviche for Emily and mandarin chicken for Aaron – and then left them to their date.

Emily was the first one to break the comfortable silence that had settled between them. "You know, I really love the ocean. Not really the beach – I've never been one of those people content to sit on the sand and bake in the sun – but I've always loved swimming in the ocean. There's something really beautiful and powerful about it, and I find the smell of the ocean to be really relaxing. Whenever I was having a really rough time of things growing up, I'd find the nearest body of water – usually a bay or an ocean – and spend the day there, and I don't know, things always just felt better after that."

"Was it hard? Moving around so much as you grew up?" He inquired.

She pondered his question before shrugging slightly. "Mainly it was just lonely. It's hard to make friends when you're never in one place very long and your parents are diplomats. I think that's part of the reason I was so upset when I found out about Jenna. I had really wanted a sibling for the longest time – I thought it would make moving so much easier." Aaron nodded but didn't say anything. "It wasn't all bad though. I went to some really great schools, learned several languages, and it's lead me to where I am today." She offered him a smile, before changing the subject. (Her childhood and adolescence wasn't something she particularly wanted to delve into on a first date.) "So what about you – are you pro-ocean or are you more of a clinging to dry land type of guy?"

"Is there a middle ground in there somewhere? I like going to the beach on occasion, but I was never intent on being a merman or anything. When I was a kid, we weren't much of a family and we didn't do a lot of things together, but I do remember this one summer when my father insisted we were going to go on a family vacation to Myrtle Beach. And at the time we had this really old, beat up, piece of junk car. It was in pretty bad shape and couldn't go more than 45 miles an hour, even on a highway, so it took us nearly two whole days to get there, and the air conditioning didn't work. And of course my brother and I were fighting in the back the entire way, which drove our parents nuts. There's a rather large age difference between us, so we had nothing in common of course. Anyways, finally, we get there and find out that the beach has been closed for the past week because someone had spotted a shark. We spent the day on the boardwalk, and then ended up getting right back in the car and driving home. It's kinda strange, but even though we were miserable in the car, it's probably one of the happier memories from that time in my life."

Emily had never heard Aaron talk about his family or his childhood, but she had a feeling that she wasn't the only one who hadn't grown up in an ideal home. Nevertheless, she assumed he wanted to talk about it as much as she wanted to talk about hers – which is to say, not at all. So she changed the subject. "Sean seems like a nice guy. What's he do for a living?"

The waitress arrived with their food at that moment, and Aaron waited until they'd been served and she'd departed, before answering her question. "He actually opened up a restaurant in New York City a couple years ago. I thought he'd be following our father and myself into law, but then he shows up a few years back to tell me he's planning on moving to New York to study with a renowned chef. But his restaurant is doing well and it seems to be working out for him, so I'm just glad he's found what makes him happy. Plus, he makes fantastic lasagna for Jack and me whenever he's in town."

"So is he just here visiting then?"

"Yeah, he had some time off and decided to make the trip down to stay for a few days. I told him I had a date, and he volunteered to babysit – much to my surprise. But then, he's always trying to set me up with a friend of a friend, or something of the sort. I always blow him off, but maybe now he'll let me be and stop trying to force me out on blind dates. I told him I'm taken." He shot her a wink, which she answered back with a warm smile.

The conversation tapered off a bit as they enjoyed their food, but the silence between them was comfortable and the dialogue they did share didn't feel forced or unnatural.

"We're getting a cat." She informed him at one point.

"So you caved, I take it?"

"Nope. I don't consider it caving because I wanted one too." She retorted.

"Sure, sure. Whatever lets you sleep at night." He mocked her teasingly.

When they'd finished their meals, the waitress came by to ask if they wanted dessert, but Aaron waved her off. "I've got other plans." He informed Emily.

She was surprised. She hadn't expected him to take her to such an elegant restaurant, and she definitely hadn't expected anything more than dinner. But he ignored her not-so-subtle attempts to find out his plans, and paid the check before they left the restaurant. They got back in the SUV, but their next stop was close at hand and when Aaron pulled into the parking lot, Emily flashed him a huge grin.

"This may just be the best date ever." She stated before hopping out of the vehicle. He had taken her to the Cold Stone Creamery for dessert – a place well known for having the absolute best ice cream in town. Did this guy know her, or what?

He followed her out of the car, glad that she seemed quite delighted with his decision. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she leaned in against him, each enjoying the contact between them as they headed into the building. They placed their orders – Aaron getting one of the specialties, while Emily created her own chocolaty concoction in a cone – and then headed outside to find a place to sit.

They found a bench facing out towards the bay, which they were still near, and sat down. Aaron wrapped an arm loosely around her shoulders to which she responded by scooting closer into his side. They finished their ice cream in silence, watching the sky turn from light blue to orange and pink as the sun began to set. When she'd finished her ice cream, she rested her head on his shoulder and felt his arm tighten about her. She let out a contented sigh. This moment with him was complete bliss, she couldn't ask for anything more. "Thank you for tonight, Aaron. It's been absolutely perfect."

He pressed a light kiss to her hair before responding in hushed tones. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

She lifted her head from his shoulder and kissed him, slowly and tenderly, expressing her gratitude and affection for him in the best way she knew how.

Reluctantly they left the bench when the air grew too chilly to ignore any more and they headed back home. On the way back, Aaron inquired about her plans for the following day and invited her and Amanda over for dinner with Sean, Jack and himself, to which she readily agreed. When they arrived, Emily was loath to even get out of the vehicle, knowing that it would mean the end to the best date she'd ever had. Looking back at the start of the evening, she couldn't believe she'd been so nervous. Aaron had been her friend for years and they'd never had trouble spending time together before – she wasn't quite sure why she thought that would change if she was dating him.

Unwillingly she got out of the car and walked with him to the door of his apartment before he stopped them. "Can I get a goodnight kiss?" he asked her with a grin.

"You know you don't have to ask, right?" She replied cheekily before leaning up to kiss him. She nipped playfully at his bottom lip before sliding her tongue into his mouth to tease him just a bit. She just didn't expect how caught up she'd get in the sensation of kissing him and it wasn't until a long moment later that they were breaking apart due to a door opening and the sound of Sean Hotchner clearing his throat loudly. Emily pulled away from Aaron, blushing from embarrassment as she panted for breath. Aaron, on the other hand, glared at Sean and shoved him back inside, shutting the door as he purposefully ignored the smirk on his younger brother's face.

"Well, that was embarrassing." Emily stated, her cheeks still a bright red. "I should probably get Amanda and go."

She reached for the door knob, but he stopped her. "Wait a minute, I wasn't done saying goodnight," he told her with a grin before quickly leaning in to kiss her and rekindling the heat between them, pulling her body to his close once again.

Reluctantly, he finally pulled away. "Thanks for having dinner with me tonight, Emily."

She smiled sweetly at him before opening the door and heading into the apartment. Amanda was already asleep, so Aaron carried her to the car and buckled her in as Emily followed, after awkwardly thanking Sean for watching the kids and bidding him goodnight.

She headed home, blissfully happy with the direction her life seemed to be taking.

**Hey guys! Just a quick note… La Rosa Nautica is actually based on a real restaurant, but it's in Lima, Peru, not in Quantico, VA. I've only been once, but it's a super nice restaurant and it's out on the ocean. I put it in the bay in this story b/c they'd have to make a longer trip than I thought was realistic for the story. I don't really know anything about bays, but I'm guessing they might not have piers like oceans do, so if they don't, please just overlook that fact for the sake of the story. If you want an idea of what it looks like you can go to google, click on images, and type in "la rosa nautica restaurant". It's really pretty when it's all lit up at night. Also, the Cold Stone Creamery is awesome – so if there's one near you, I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't yet! :)**


	38. Chapter 38

When Aaron returned to the apartment, he found his brother waiting for him in the living room, still wearing that smug grin. "What? Are you 15 or something?" Aaron groused at him.

But his demeanor had no effect whatsoever on his younger brother – but then again, it never usually did. "So… are you in love with her?"

"It was our first date!" Aaron exclaimed.

"_Aaand?"_ Sean continued prying.

Knowing how relentless his brother could be – really he was as bad as Rossi sometimes! – he knew he wasn't getting out of this discussion, so he shrugged off his suit jacket and toed off his shoes, taking a seat on the couch before answering. "Yeah, I think I might be."

"So have you told her yet?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's way too soon for that."

"There's no rule on how long you're supposed to wait, y'know?"

"I'll tell her when the time is right – when I'm ready." And he would. But now wasn't that time.

Thankfully, Sean seemed to pick up on his tone that clearly implied the discussion was over and he let the subject drop. "They're coming over tomorrow for dinner and as payback for that little stunt you just pulled, you're making dinner. Lasagna." He thought about it for a moment before tacking on for good measure, "And dessert."

"Yes, _sir_." Sean replied snidely. But really, he wasn't upset – cooking is what he does best. Plus he'd have another opportunity to observe Emily and his brother together.

XXX

Most of Emily's morning had been spent on the phone with Garcia and JJ recounting every last detail of the date, and of course apologizing profusely for keeping them out of the loop. When Amanda's new bike finally arrived at 11 a.m., they set out for lunch and then to the park. After several hours of practicing her new riding skills, Emily snapped a couple pictures of Mandy on her bike to commemorate the day, and then they'd set out for the nearest pet shelter.

Picking out a kitten had been the easiest part – a little black and white fur ball had immediately made its presence known to them with loud meows as soon as they entered the shelter, and the purring when Amanda picked him up was just too adorable to ignore. Picking out a name was easy too because he had already been given one by a volunteer at the shelter. The cat was named Sergio, after Sergio Rossi – an Italian fashion designer that the volunteer was a huge fan of – and Emily couldn't help thinking it was good luck that the woman had decided to go with the first name and not the last. How awkward would that have been? Can you imagine… _Emily, where'd you get those scratches on your arms? Oh, Rossi kept scratching me the other day when I was trying to pet him..._ Yeah, Sergio was much better.

What wasn't so easy was picking out a collar and tags. Amanda kept changing her mind about the color and design she wanted and by the time she'd decided on a blue collar with a red heart-shaped tag, they had less than an hour to buy everything they needed (i.e. cat food, water and food dishes, litter and litter box, and cat toys), make it home to drop off everything, and then make it to Aaron's on time. What's worse, Emily felt really guilty about leaving the kitten home alone right away without even letting him get used to them or his surroundings, so she'd ended up calling Aaron on the way home and asking him how he felt about a third (rather furry) guest for dinner that night. Luckily he agreed readily and so they headed over to his apartment for dinner, straight from the pet supplies store.

When Aaron opened the apartment door, the first thing she noticed was a heavenly aroma coming from the kitchen. The second thing she noticed was him lifting the kitten out of her hands to say hello – to the cat, not to her. Who would've suspected that Aaron Hotchner was a cat man? She'd definitely always assumed he'd be a dog man, but maybe he was both. At any rate, Emily was coming to the conclusion that stoic BAU unit chief plus fluffy little fur ball equates to some serious Hotchner cuteness! Where was her camera when she needed it?

He eventually passed the kitten on to Jack and then turned back to Emily to say hello, enveloping her in a warm, albeit brief hug. Amanda passed them by, following after Jack who was headed to the living room, but Aaron quickly swooped around and picked her up, tickling her until she was screaming with laughter. He finally relented, setting her back down on the ground. "Hey kiddo, don't I get a hello?"

Mandy nodded enthusiastically. "Hi Aaron! Do you like our new kitty? His name is Sergio. We just got him today!"

He smiled at her. "I do like your new kitty. He seems very nice."

"He _is_ really nice." She told him before running off after Jack to play with her new cat.

"You're in an awfully good mood today." Emily observed.

"I am. I've been looking forward to this all day. Now how about a proper hello?" He asked, leaning in towards her suggestively.

She quickly closed the distance between them and placed a chaste kiss on his lips before walking away coyly. It didn't take him more than a split second to pull her back to him and initiate a kiss between them that was a lot more heated and demanding. She didn't let it last too long though – too worried that his brother would walk in on them kissing again. That was one embarrassment she didn't need repeated – she wasn't exactly someone who engaged in or appreciated public displays of affection, so getting caught by the brother was quite cringe-worthy in her opinion.

"Sean is in the kitchen if you want to say hello." He told her when they pulled apart, before warning her, "And don't let him get to you – he likes to tease anyone he can."

He headed for the living room and she headed for the kitchen, hoping things wouldn't feel as awkward as they felt the night before.

When she entered the kitchen, she found Sean rolling out homemade dough on the countertop.

"It smells delicious in here."

"Emily!" He whipped around to face her. "I didn't know you were standing there. And thank you – I hope you think it tastes as delicious as it smells."

She shot him a smile. "I'm sure it will. Do you need any help?"

"Uh sure. Do you wanna peel and slice some apples?"

She nodded and moved to grab a paring knife from the cutlery drawer. They worked side by side for a short while before Sean broke the silence. "So last night went well?"

Emily thought back to the night before, remembering how perfectly everything had gone. It had been like a dream. "Yeah, it did. It was really great, actually."

Sean glanced over at her to find her reminiscing with a dazed look on her face. Yeah, he recognized that kind of sappy face – Emily Prentiss had it and had it _bad_ for his brother.

"Where did you two meet?" He inquired.

"We work together, actually."

"You're a profiler?" He asked her with a slight bit of skepticism to his question.

"Yes. Why, does that surprise you?" She challenged him, not liking anyone doubting her ability to do her job and do it well.

He held up his hands, palms facing out. "Hey, no, I'm all for that whole men-being-nurses-and-women-being-firefighters-or-whatever equality thing. I just don't get why anyone really would choose to go into that line of work. I mean, I know Aaron loves it, but it's awfully gruesome."

"Well, I could give you the "making a difference" spiel, but I'll assume you've already heard it. Mainly we just like the adrenaline rushes and the chance to kick criminal ass." She retorted with a smirk.

"So are you in love with Aaron?" He asked her bluntly, wanting to see what her reaction would be as he caught her off-guard.

Emily's eyes grew wide and her face flushed with color at his question. "What? Why would you ask me that?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and went back to fitting his dough into a pie pan. "He's my brother and he cares a lot about you. I'm just making sure you're not jerking his chain around. The last thing he needs is for someone to toy with him."

Emily couldn't help staring in shock at Sean. Part of her felt indignant and insulted at even the slightest suggestion that she would ever intentionally hurt Aaron. The other part of her thought it was really very sweet how he was looking out for his brother – even if it meant she was getting the third degree from a guy she'd only known for a day. She went back to slicing apples, debating on her answer. _Was she in love with Aaron?_ Okay, that was a clear and resounding YES. _But did she have any intentions of telling Aaron that yet_? Definitely _not_. And she certainly didn't plan on telling his brother before she told him. But that didn't mean she couldn't tell him something – at least to dispel the notion that she wasn't serious about Aaron.

"I'm not toying with him or jerking his chain around. I care about him a lot. We're both taking a risk with this relationship since we work together, and neither one of us would have started this if we weren't serious about it."

"Good. That's all I wanted to know. And in that case, welcome to the family. It's not much, but we take care of our own." He told her with a grin.

She rolled her eyes and returned the smile, just glad that the interrogation seemed to be over – for the moment at least.

Once the preparations were finished, Sean checked on the lasagna and pulled it out of the oven, slipping the pie in to bake in its place. In the meantime, Emily headed to the living room to alert Aaron and the kids that it was time to eat.

The evening passed quickly, and Emily was relieved when Sean refrained from directing any more startlingly blunt questions her way. Instead he regaled them with stories of what it was like living in a small rundown apartment in Harlem with two drugged-out roommates when he first moved to New York. Luckily, he'd made new friends fast and had moved to a new place within 3 months, but not without having a few near-death (and in retrospect, quite funny) experiences first.

By the end of the night, Emily had decided that despite their initial awkwardness and the third degree she'd received, she really liked Sean a lot. He was worlds away in personality types from his brother, but he seemed to care a lot about Aaron and Jack, and that's something that they had in common.

**Just a few quick things… First off, Sergio Rossi is a real Italian (shoe) designer, I didn't make him up. **

**Secondly, there will probably be one more chapter to this story (2 if my muse returns). **

**And thirdly, I just wanted to say a special thanks to the following people who have been very diligent about reviewing throughout this story, to which I am very grateful: I luv emily prentiss 2012, Alice Prince, Angel N Darkness, calzonaobessed, onetreefan, HGRHfan35, HPforever-after, vampiremuggle, JJ, fanficlover, HisPrincess12, Kimd33, crazyobsessions, and sarweber22**.

**I hope I haven't missed anyone, but if I have, just know that I am very grateful for all the reviews I receive! Oh, and I can't believe I've received over 300 reviews on this fic – I'm blown away, people! That being said, if you'd take the time to leave one for this chapter, I'd greatly appreciate it… :)**


	39. Chapter 39

**Hello my wonderful readers! I was going to do it all in one chapter, but it was getting longer than I felt like writing, so there will be one more chapter after this before I mark it as complete. (And then of course there will be the M-rated one-shot single that I post separately. I'll let you guys know next chapter what the title will be so you can be on the lookout for it if you want to read it.) Now on with the show…er, story…**

_On the word 'Go', the team moved into the old, abandoned house, searching for a sign that this was where the unsub had taken the women. Reid and Morgan were following behind her, guns drawn as they slid into the kitchen to the left. Hotch was several steps in front of her and slipped into a bedroom ahead to the right to clear the room. A gunshot pierced the stale air from the room that he'd just entered and Emily felt her throat close at the sound, as her heart began to beat rapidly. She hurried into the room, gun drawn, and found Aaron alone, on the floor, blood pouring out from his chest. "Aaron?" She yelled at the sight, rushing to his side. "Oh god, Aaron!" She ripped off her jacket, bunching it up and pressing it firmly over the wound to try and hinder the flow of blood. But it wasn't helping. She pulled her eyes away from his chest to look in his eyes, seeing the shock and the pain clearly displayed there. He was losing blood fast, and losing consciousness faster. "Aaron! Aaron, stay with me. You're going to be okay…you have to be okay…don't leave me, Aaron!" She went from reassuring to pleading in a matter of seconds as she watched the light leaving his eyes. As the tears started pouring down her face, she barely registered Morgan entering the room behind her and cussing loudly before calling for an ambulance. "Aaron, don't leave me. I haven't told you I love you yet. We're supposed to be together. You can't leave me!" But it was too late, he was already gone. She looked down to see her hands covered in his blood, still pressing her jacket into his wound, refusing to let go._

Emily bolted up in bed, sweat dripping off of her as she struggled to catch her breath. She glanced around the familiar bedroom bathed in moonlight, reminding herself that she was not in an abandoned house, but at home in her apartment, and Aaron was perfectly safe. She wanted to call him – reassure herself that that was true – but her eyes alit on her alarm clock and she realized that it was nearly 3 a.m. If she called him now, she'd just alarm him. She reached up, brushing the moisture off her cheeks as she realized she must have been crying in her sleep. When her breathing was under control again, she switched on the lamp on the nightstand and pushed the covers off, climbing out of bed. There was no way she was going right back to sleep after that kind of nightmare. She could still feel the abject terror of seeing him die on the floor like that, covered in blood. It all felt so real; she could hardly disassociate it from reality.

She made her way to the bathroom, switching on the light, and turning on the faucet to splash her face. Switching the faucet off after several minutes of drenching her face in the cold water, she dried off and glanced in the mirror to find a rather pale version of herself staring back at her.

She headed back into her bedroom, and found Sergio still lying in her bed, looking at her as she reentered the room with accusing eyes, obviously unhappy that she'd waken him up. Switching off the lights, as she climbed back in bed, she pulled the kitten close to her, finding reassurance in having a warm, living thing next to her. But try as she might, there was no way she was getting back to sleep.

_It was just a nightmare. You've had plenty of nightmares before, Emily._ She lectured herself sternly, feeling like she was just being ridiculous. _And besides you'll be seeing him in 5 hours and you can check for sure that he's fine then._

It was Monday – Mandy's first day of school – and she and Aaron had agreed to meet up in front of the school before taking the kids to their respective classes and then heading in to work.

But no matter what she told herself, nothing helped. She tossed and turned for an hour and eventually gave in and got out of bed to start her day. Without any paper work to do since she'd been on medical leave for the past few days, she ended up cleaning her entire apartment for something to occupy her mind so she wouldn't think about the nightmare that was still pressing at the edges of her mind.

XXX

Amanda was so excited about her first day of school that when her aunt went in to wake her up at 7:15, she was already wide awake, sitting on her bed, and had changed into her school uniform as well. Emily couldn't really say she was surprised – for the last 4 days Amanda had talked of almost nothing else except starting the first grade. She was nervous and excited and eager and worried, all at the same time – and secretly Emily felt the same way. She really wanted Amanda to do well at her new school and make some new friends, but she was just worried that there had been too much change in the girl's life recently and she was worried about her niece having a difficult time adjusting. Hopefully, though, school would end up offering some stability and routine, instead of adding on more stress for Amanda.

"Morning, sweetie! How about some waffles for breakfast?"

"With strawberries?" She asked eagerly, hopping off her bed.

"No strawberries, but we do have some blueberries." Emily offered, and headed downstairs to make them when Mandy agreed.

After waffles, Emily made a lunch for Amanda, packing it in her new Dora the Explorer lunch box, before they left the apartment.

"Do you think Jack will still wanna be my friend?" Mandy asked on the way to the school.

The question caught Emily off-guard since the kids had been getting along so well. "Why wouldn't Jack wanna be your friend, sweetie?"

"'Cause now we'll be in different classes and we won't see each other all day and he'll make new friends. I don't want a new best friend; I want Jack to be my best friend. But what if he doesn't want to be my best friend anymore?"

"Well, you'll still see each other outside of school and at recess. Just because you're not in the same class doesn't mean you can't be friends."

"But what if he makes new friends with _boys_ and he doesn't want to be friends with a girl anymore?"

Emily contemplated the idea – it wasn't totally implausible. At that age boys were prone to suddenly believing that girls had cooties and vice versa – especially if they got the idea from other classmates. "Well, Jack will probably make some new friends in his class, and so will you. But you and Jack get along great and he's been really nice about sharing his toys with you, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, then, there's no reason to expect that he won't want to still be friends with you if he makes some new friends, right?"

"I guess. Can me and Jack go to the park after school?"

"We'll have to ask Aaron and Jack if they have any plans for after school, okay?"

"Okay."

When they arrived, Aaron and Jack were already there, waiting at the front of the school entrance for them, and Emily had to admit that a small part of her that was still stuck on her nightmare felt relieved. Amanda ran up to Aaron as soon as she spotted him, jumping into his arms. "Hi Aaron!" She practically yelled in his face. Smiling at her enthusiasm, picked her up and gave her a hug before turning to greet Emily with a quick kiss on the cheek. She gave him a smile before crouching down to hug Jack hello.

"Hey Jackster! Ready for your first day of school?"

"Guess so." He mumbled back. Much in contrast to Amanda's rambunctiousness and excitement for the first day of school, Jack seemed a bit withdrawn and wary about the start of this new experience. Emily glanced up at Aaron, noticing his brow wrinkled in worry as he watched his son interact with Emily.

He set Amanda down and she immediately butted in between Jack and Emily and hugged Jack hello as well. "Hi Jack. Wanna play together at recess? I'm gonna see if I can make it the whole way across the monkey bars without falling. Then I'm gonna go on the teeter totter. Wanna go on the teeter totter with me?"

Amanda's excitement couldn't be contained, and Emily was glad to see it rubbing off on Jack as he smiled, nodded his head, and agreed to go on the teeter totter with her. Emily stood back up and, feeling Aaron's arm go around her waist, she immediately relaxed into his side. She watched as Amanda started telling Jack about all the classes she was sure he was going to love, explaining all the wonders of art class and music class and gym class and recess.

"They're really good together." Emily observed quietly to Aaron.

He nodded in agreement. "Jack's been really nervous for his first day of kindergarten. I think it'll be good for him to see her at some point in the day – it'll make it easier."

Thinking back to her conversation with Amanda in the car, she couldn't help smiling a little at his statement. "You know, on the way over here, Amanda was worried that Jack wouldn't want to be her friend anymore after they've started school."

He chuckled a little at that. "Not a chance. All he talks about non-stop all day long is when Emily and Amanda are coming over again. I think he's quite enamored with the both of you." He pulled his eyes away from the kids to look at her. "He's not the only one, either," he told her meaningfully.

That brought a full-blown smile to Emily's face. "Good. The feeling's mutual – on both mine and Amanda's part."

He leaned in and kissed her on the lips until a chorus of "Ew!" and "Gross!" from the kids broke them apart with laughter.

Amanda tugged on Emily's shirt sleeve, before whispering loudly to her, "What about the park?"

Emily grinned and turned to Aaron. "Mandy was wondering if we could all go to the park after school. I told her we had to see if you guys have any plans first."

Aaron shook his head. "Nope, no plans. Unless the team gets called out. In which case, you'll still be here since you're out of the field for six weeks, if you want to take them. If not, I don't think Jessica would mind."

Emily nodded, but didn't reply as the first bell rang, signaling to them that they needed to head into their classes. Jack's classroom was just down the hall from Amanda's so they walked together until they reached Amanda's room first.

As excited as she had been to start the first grade, Amanda suddenly seemed hesitant about going in. She waved goodbye to Jack and Aaron before timidly following Emily into the classroom. The first grade teacher, an elderly Mrs. Wilson, greeted them at the door and then pointed out a seat for Amanda to take once she'd said her goodbyes to Emily.

Crouching down on one knee, Emily pulled Amanda into a hug. "I'll be back at 2:30 to pick you up. Have a good day, alright?" Amanda nodded her head, but refused to relinquish her hold, her arms clinging around Emily's neck ferociously. Emily fought back the tears that had suddenly sprung to her eyes at the thought of leaving Amanda alone all day with a room full of strangers. "Just be yourself and I'm sure you'll make some new friends, okay? And if you have any problems, you can always talk to Mrs. Wilson." Amanda still wasn't surrendering her grasp on Emily, so she gently pried the girl's arms from her neck and kissed her on the forehead before standing up, sniffling to hold back the tears that were threatening. "Why don't you go take your seat over there, okay? I'll be back later and you can tell me how everything went then, alright?" Reluctantly, Amanda nodded and made her way over to her seat. As much as she wanted to stay and watch, she figured it would only make it harder for the girl, so Emily slipped out of the door and found Aaron waiting for her in the hall.

"How'd it go?" He asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders and rapidly blinked back the tears that were still threatening. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and grinned at her. "Welcome to parenthood. Heartbreaking and wonderful all at the same time."

She chuckled at his very apt description, before asking "So what about Jack? How'd he take it?"

"Pretty well, actually. As luck would have it, there's a boy in his class that he went to preschool with, so I think that helped a lot."

Emily nodded and let him lead her down the hall and out of the building.


	40. Chapter 40

**Here it is, the final chapter! I never imagined when I started this story over 3 months ago that it would end up becoming so long (and yet strangely, the story really only covered two weeks in their lives – though they were two very full, busy weeks!). I hope you've enjoyed reading it b/c I know I've enjoyed writing it! So here goes…**

Aaron and Emily headed into FBI headquarters and shared a brief kiss in the empty elevator before splitting up to head to their respective places. As Emily approached her desk, the sight before her eyes made her groan internally. Derek Morgan was leaning against her desk, watching her arrival with Hotch with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Don't even start, Morgan." She warned him before he could get a comment in.

But of course he ignored her. "Have a good time off, Emily? I heard Wednesday night was particularly good," he hinted suggestively.

She rolled her eyes at him and took her seat, before responding quietly so no one else in the bullpen would hear. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, okay? You know about me and Hotch."

His grin only grew wider at that. "So how long has this little scandal been going on?" he pried.

She frowned at him, unhappy with his word choice. "It's not a 'little scandal', Morgan. Hotch and I care about each other a lot and it's not just a fling we're having if that's what you're thinking. And for the record, it's only been like a week, alright?"

"Alright, alright. I feel you. And 'for the record', if he makes you happy, then I'm happy. And if he hurts you, you let him know he has me and the rest of the team to answer to. Got it?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "Got it. Thanks." Morgan could be a pain in the ass some of the time – most of the time – but he _always_ had her back. "And we're trying to keep word from getting around to Strauss, and only the team knows, so please be discreet about who you decide to go and gossip about this with, alright?"

"Me? Gossip? Princess, I'm hurt. I would never do such a thing." He mocked her playfully, holding a hand over his heart in feigned pain.

Emily snorted at his response. "Yeah, I'd almost believe that, except for the fact that your best friend is Penelope Garcia – the Queen of Gossip, among other things."

He grinned at her and went back to his own desk to sit down. Reid returned to the bullpen and took a seat with a fresh cup of coffee in his hand, which Emily eyed enviously before getting up to head to the break room, just hoping there was still some left in the pot.

Morgan leaned over in the direction of Reid's desk when she was gone. "Hey, did you hear the news?"

"About what? The house that caught on fire last night and killed 3 people? The newest drug created to battle lung cancer? The continuing war in Afghanistan? The latest celebrity sex tape? The increase in the national unemployment rate? The expected reunion of the boy band 'NSYNC? There were a lot of news worthy – and not so worthy – items on CNN this morning, you'll have to be more specific."

"No, genius. I mean did you hear about Hotch and Emily hooking up?"

"Oh, is that still considered news? I found out about that last Tuesday." Reid replied flippantly, knowing it would irk Morgan.

"What? You knew? Why didn't you say anything?"

Reid shrugged and opened a file to work on. "I was asked not to, so I didn't."

Morgan harrumphed and opened a file of his own, obviously annoyed that he'd been the last to find out – since he reckoned dejectedly that Rossi already knew, and the girls had been the ones to tell him in the first place.

Meanwhile, a very much in-the-know Rossi had just cornered Emily in the break room.

"It's about time you guys got your act together." He stated, and watched her jump slightly, startled by his sudden presence.

She blushed slightly, and then grinned at him. "Well, I'm glad you approve. By the way, thank you for the reservations at La Rosa Nautica."

"No thanks necessary. I was just glad to help get the ball rolling."

She chuckled. "Yeah, Aaron mentioned that you'd been, and I quote, 'harping on him to make a move for months now'."

He laughed whole-heartedly at that. "Guilty as charged. In case you haven't noticed, he can be a little stubborn."

She quirked an eyebrow and shot him an amused look. "A little? That's like calling the Grand Canyon a ditch – it's a major understatement."

He left the room laughing and Emily went back to pouring herself a cup of coffee.

XXX

By lunch time, Emily had refilled her mug 3 times, trying desperately to stave off the lethargy that was setting in after only sleeping for a few hours the night before. Luckily, at their usual 10 o'clock meeting JJ had announced that they didn't have any current cases they needed to leave on at the moment, so they were all relegated to consults and paperwork.

After leaving Garcia's office, where she had to endure more teasing and prying about her and Hotch's relationship from both JJ and Garcia, she headed to the break room, intent on refilling her mug yet again. But instead she found Aaron already draining the last of the pot.

"You'd best be planning on starting a new pot if you have any intentions of keeping your girlfriend happy." She warned him semi-seriously.

He turned around at the sound of her voice. "And if I don't?," he challenged playfully.

"Hmm… well, let's just say that I know a little boy who really wants a puppy and has a birthday coming up." She replied with a smirk.

"Threatening a dog for a cup of coffee? Wasn't there something at the Geneva Convention about punishments fitting the crime?"

"Perhaps. But I'm pretty sure there's an unwritten amendment to that law having to do with crimes of withholding coffee. I'm fairly certain they declared it a capital offense."

"In that case –" he reached over and poured half of his cup of coffee into her mug. "I'll share. And I'll start a new pot."

"Thanks." She replied, smiling at his sweet gesture. "Are you taking a lunch break? I was gonna run down to that little café down the street if you wanna join me."

"I would, but I should work through lunch so I can leave early to pick up Jack from school and take him to the park. We're supposed to meet a couple of pretty ladies there."

She would've kissed him but settled for a roll of her eyes and a grin since they were at work. "Okay. I'll pick you up a sandwich then."

XXX

Around 2pm, Emily packed a few files into her briefcase that she needed to work on later that night and then headed for the parking garage. Aaron was already waiting for her so they got into their respective vehicles and she followed him to the school.

While he headed for Jack's classroom, she waited in the hall outside Amanda's class with a few other parents, ignoring their curious glances at the cast on her arm. When the bell rang, Mrs. Wilson opened the door and Amanda was one of the first ones out. She launched herself at Emily, who caught her up and hugged her.

"Emily! First grade is so cool! We got to plant seeds in cups with dirt and Mrs. Wilson said we're gonna water them and check on them every day so we can watch them grow! And we have a class pet – it's a turtle and its name is Herbert! And I sat by this girl named Sarah and she has _two_ dogs _and_ a cat. Plus she has a little brother, but he can't talk yet because he's only a baby. And I saw Jack at recess today, too! We went on the teeter totter, but then he wanted to play with Brian, so Sarah and I played hopscotch. Have you ever played hopscotch, Emily? It's really fun! You have to hop from number to number, except you skip a number when you throw a rock on it."

Emily chuckled at Amanda's rambling chatter and set her back down on the ground. "I have played hopscotch, but not for a really long time. So you made a new friend today? Sarah?"

"Yep. She's two whole months older than me, but we both like Dora and the color purple and pancakes and jumping on the bed. _Aaand_ her favorite movie is How To Train A Dragon. Can we get that movie, Emily? I really wanna see it!"

Emily chuckled again at the easiness of childhood friendships. "I think we can manage that. So it was a good first day?"

"Yeah! And no homework!"

"Great! Now how about we find Aaron and Jack and head to the park?"

Emily could not have been more relieved that Amanda's first day had gone so well and she had made a new friend. It felt like a good omen for the future.

They quickly found Aaron carrying Jack, weaving his way through the crowded hall towards them, and then headed for the parking lot.

XXX

When they reached the park, the kids headed straight for the jungle gym while Emily and Aaron headed for a bench.

"Is this gonna be our bench from now on?" She asked, noticing that it was the same one they'd sat on a week and a day previous – the same day they'd decided to give a relationship a go.

"I guess so. Other people have a song, or a restaurant. We'll have a bench."

"We should've stopped at Baskin-Robbins again. That way it could be our _ice cream bench_." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Is that a thing?" He asked. When she laughed, he sent her a bemused look. "What?"

"Nothing. That was just very Liz Lemon of you." She smirked.

"Who?"

"Never mind. It's not important." He rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and she nestled into his side, hiding her grin at the 30 Rock reference he'd probably never get. Not that she was surprised – she doubted anyone on the team had much time for tv. But her Tivo had accidentally recorded an episode of 30 Rock once and she was hooked immediately. She had ended up recording all the new episodes and watched them while inhaling ice cream after really bad cases when she needed a good laugh.

They sat in comfortable silence, watching the kids play, and Emily felt herself getting drowsy again now that she was out of coffee and snuggled up next to Aaron. She was almost drifting to sleep on his shoulder when his voice brought her back into clear consciousness. "You seem awfully tired today. You're practically falling asleep on my shoulder… not that I mind… and you had 5 cups of coffee at work."

_Oops, busted. _"You were keeping count?" She asked, amusement coloring her voice as she looked up at him.

"Hard not to. Every time I glanced down into the bullpen you were heading to or from the break room."

"Hmm… well, I didn't really sleep well last night." She admitted quietly, averting her eyes. Everyone on the team had nightmares – and everyone knew that everyone else on the team had nightmares – but no one liked to talk about it.

"Wanna tell me about it?" He offered sympathetically.

She shook her head no. "Not really."

"It might help." He persisted, but she was saved the trouble of answering when they were interrupted by his ringing cellphone.

She listened to the one-sided conversation and gathered that it was JJ calling with a case they needed to leave for right away. She knew she was on strict orders to stay behind and that she needed to spend the time she had available with Amanda, but she dreaded the thought of him going off on a case without her there to see for herself that he was okay – especially considering her most recent nightmare that was still plaguing her thoughts.

He hung up the phone and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, I have to go. We have a case in Delaware – it looks like a family annihilator. Could you drop Jack off at Jessica's for me after they're done playing? I really need to leave as soon as possible."

She nodded and pulled her keys out of her pocket. "Just put his car seat in my car first, okay?"

He grabbed her keys and ran off to do just that, before coming back to return the keys and say goodbye. Jack didn't seem too thrilled at the idea of his dad leaving, but he didn't put up a fuss and went back to playing with Amanda as Aaron turned to Emily to say goodbye.

"Garcia could probably use your help in the morning, but don't worry about going back into the office tonight, alright?"

She nodded and hugged him goodbye. He turned to leave, but a moment later she called after him. "Aaron." The sound of her voice had him pausing in his steps – it was timid, yet carried a heaviness to it – so he turned around and made his way back to her. "Just don't – just be careful, okay? Don't go into any houses without backup, alright?"

He searched her troubled eyes and she could see the understanding dawn in his own. "Your nightmare?," he asked quietly.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed her face to his chest, nodding. "It was awful," she mumbled brokenly into his shirt.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He knew he needed to get going, but it could wait a minute. Right now, in this instant, Emily needed him more. After a moment she pulled back from him just enough to look up into his face, but not letting go of him.

"I know it's really soon to say this. And I don't want you to freak out or think you have to reciprocate, but I have to tell you before you go –" The words came tumbling out of her in a rush before she could lose her courage. "Aaron, I love you. And I don't mean like in a friendship kind of way. I mean, I'm _in love_ with you."

Nervously, she watched his face, trying to gauge his reaction. She didn't have to wait long to see it – or rather feel it. He swooped in, claiming her lips with his own and initiating a passionate, breath-stealing kiss between them. He pressed her even tighter against him, while probing her mouth with his tongue, filling his senses with her taste, her smell, her feel. He brought a hand up, caressing her cheek with tenderness before finally pulling back and breaking the kiss.

When she opened her eyes, she found him grinning down at her, and his next words stole the breath that she had just begun to reclaim. "I'm in love with you too, Emily. I wasn't going to say anything – it seemed too soon and I didn't want to scare you away or get my hopes up that you'd feel the same way. But I do, I love you. More than I can even express."

Watching her face, it was easy for him to see the combination of relief and giddy happiness that she felt at hearing his words. She leaned up and reinitiated their kiss, quickly pulling his tongue back into her mouth to tangle with her own.

* * *

_Epilogue:_

Four months later to the day, it was December 23rd and Aaron was scouring the mall in a panic. The team had just landed back in town less than two hours ago, after working on a grisly case of child murders that had taken them nearly two weeks to solve. He was never one to put off Christmas shopping to the last minute – and as a matter of fact, he had finished shopping for Jack and Amanda a month ago – but he still had to get Emily's gift. So he'd made up an excuse about some leftover paperwork he needed to finish at the office, and then waited for everyone to leave before rushing to the closest mall.

Spotting the store that he'd been hunting for, he hurried inside, well aware that they'd be closing in less than half an hour – which didn't give him much time to find what he wanted. He headed straight to the nearest saleslady standing behind the counter.

"Can I help you with something, sir?"

He nodded, glancing down into the cases below. "I need a ring. But it has to be special, unique, perfect – like her."

She smiled at his statement. "I think I can help you with that."

_END._

**Wow, I can't believe this journey's finally come to an end! Well, almost – I still have the M-rated one-shot sequel to do. It'll be named 'Waiting For Perfection', so be on the lookout for it! (I'll probably add on an author's note as another chapter to let you guys know when I've posted it, that way all the people that are subscribed to this story – and I can't believe there's like 133 of you! – will know when it's up without having to worry about remembering to look for it, since I'm not entirely sure when it'll get posted.) **

**As for one last note – I have really appreciated all the encouragement and reviews on this story and I would really love it if you'd take the time to leave one last comment (or one first comment for those lurkers or for those that have only just discovered this story long after it was first published). Thank you again to my faithful readers! Rosajean, out! **


	41. Chapter 41

Hey guys! This is just to let you know that I've finally posted the promised M-rated one-shot sequel to this story. It's called "Waiting For Perfection" if you want to go read it – you can find it on my profile page. Sorry it took me so long to post it – I can't promise it's any good b/c it's my first time writing smut & I had no idea what I was doing (hence why it took so long). So it may be total crap, but it may be alright. Anyways, it's there if you want to read it. And of course any reviews would be appreciated.

Also, just wanted to say thank you again for all the reading, reviewing, alerting and favoriting on this story – it was my first time for posting anything that long, so I'm glad it turned out okay.

Happy reading! :)


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